Vancouver: In the wake of high-profile worksite tragedies in the b.c. film industry, a Workers’ Compensation Board-sponsored association has been formed to foster greater safety and health awareness throughout the entertainment businesses.

The Safety & Health in Arts Production and Entertainment Association – or shape – offered its first introductory orientation sessions April 19 and 20.

shape serves as an industry-wide committee to promote safety and health. The association will assist in developing and administering safety programs, will prepare industry-based safety and health policies to facilitate compliance with wcb regulations, and will serve as the industry’s liaison with the wcb.

Action to increase health and safety standards began a few years ago but was jolted by the parachuting death of a stuntman on the set of Firestorm last summer. That accident, in which the B.C. Coroner found Twentieth Century Fox producers negligent, is still before the courts.

In 1997, the first year that specific statistics were pulled together by the wcb, there were 333 injuries and accidents reported by film industry workers.

‘I think it’s terrific that the motion picture industry and the wcb are coming together to draw up a comprehensive safety program for our industry,’ says Brent Clackson, producer of the television series The Outer Limits. ‘We have had some confusion and misunderstandings as the industry has grown. shape should make things much better for everybody.’

The new association represents producers, performers and others in both the live performing arts and the film and video arts in b.c. It follows a model developed for the agriculture industry which shares the entertainment industries’ models of having many employers and a mobile workforce.

‘It’s pretty clear that the wcb’s standard rule book would shut us down,’ says shape’s public relations representative Dixie Cutler. She explains that the wcb is open to tailored regulations for the industry that will be developed through shape.

Cutler adds the new regulatory emphasis on the worksite is not expected to scare away service production, since California already works under stringent health and safety standards.

For information, call (604) 263-6401 and leave a message.