Health and Safety (Photography)

Out in the field so to speak any self employed photographer must comply with the "Health and Safety at work act 1974" (HASWA) as described in my last blog. This is because as a self employed person they have a duty of care to themselves, any assistant / staff they employ and also members of the public that will be effected by the work they carry out.

What a photographer must do before completing any task (that can be anything from working on the PC to edit pictures, working in a studio for a photo shoot, taking photos at a wedding and even developing film using chemicals) they must complete a series of risk assessment for the tasks they are going to carry out. These are a way of capturing any risks that are involved, assessing the likelihood and severity of the risk and then taking the appropriate action to remove or at worst reduce the risk.

Potential risks for a photographer are as follows.

• Cables for equipment (are they causing a trip hazard)
• Chemicals for developing film (are they stored correctly, do you need protective clothing to handle them, clearly labelled is COSHH being followed)
• Electrical equipment (has it been tested, is there enough sockets to plug it all in)
• Flash equipment (is anyone with epilepsy going to have a problem with prolonged flash photography)
• Computers (if using for editing a VDU assessment needs to be carried out to ensure the equipment is in the correct position to ensure the correct posture for the user.)

This by no means is an exhaustive list but does show a few of the potential hazards a photographer will come across. So it is the photographer to careful plan his photo shoot correctly and then carry out the risk assessments relevent to the task involved.

Also the photographer should have obtained public liability insurance.

I will from now on whenever taking photographs will make a note in my blog about what I have done to reduce the risk to myself and others when I am taking the photographs. This maybe as simple as wearing stout walking shoes, of if stalking wildlife ensure I am wearing warm clothing.