Open Forum

I am working with ZFX for flying effects for my spring musical.  One of the big concerns in my school district is liability.  They have extra insurance for sports and I have a meeting with our risk management next week.  I am looking for information on liability insurance that I might (or have the parents) purchase to cover the actual flying - not just the equipment.

I used ZFX many years ago.  Since they supervise all installation and have a flying director train the theatre company's personnel, we didn't need any insurance riders.  The operation is incredibly safe.  Everyone gets bent out of shape because the actor is in the air but the cables used have no "play" in them and we had no problems throughout a 3 week run of Peter Pan.  Cheerleading and football are much more dangerous than the ZFX operation. 

Ask ZFX if they have any information you can present at your meeting, knowing full well that ZFX is not going to get involved in the discussion.

I know & I have worked with ZFX before - but school system is now being ...........

We used ZFX twice - once for Dracula and once for A Midsummer Night's Dream - and both times we had great experiences.  Our school's risk management also freaked out the first time we signed them up, but soon realized that the extensive training and rehearsal required by ZFX was pretty thorough.  AND that football and cheerleading were much more dangerous.  We did not end up having to get any extra insurance.

I recently used Flying FX for Mary Poppins. They offered additional insurance and all of our students signed a waiver. I am betting your company has the same offer. I bought the extra insurance as a precaution. I agree that flying in the theatre is secure and safe. School districts are very cautious. Provide them what they ask on this one. It will make things easier for you in the long run.

Interesting discussion and thoughts - And I am happy to see you are using my friends work - but I have to side with the administration on the proof that they are covered.

As probably the only rigger weighing in on this discussion I can tell you way too many horror stories about "casual approaches" to flying.  The reason the insurance is being a pain is because in the last 20+ years most of the fatalities and serious inures in the performing arts have had to do with flying - many of the high profile cases involved performers varying SOP with FX engineered proven systems (see http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/30/us/nevada-cirque-death-investigation/) - so insurance companies are really leery of "armatures" becoming involved with systems that can kill even professionals.  They want proof they are covered for that "1 in 10,000,000 chance" that something can go wrong.

While I agree that the FX companies are extremely conscientious and engineer safety into their products and processes I can tell you I now refuse to engineer or even be on a show with "live fly" systems, unless the system is a complete engineered system from one of the FX companies complete with training.  This is a choice driven by the fact that as a rigger cannot afford to maintain the liability insurance which "live fly" adds!

Call the company you are dealing with and find out their SOP for reporting process and safety info for insurance companies.  Even though they may not cover you - you they can usually give you insurance companies they report to and work with if extra liability is needed.

Hope this helps

Rob Holter Helena Montana