PLEASE READ! Dear community: In recent months when I have not been present at the jam to tell people what to do, apparently, more and more safety issues have come up. Since the last jam in particularly, Ive now discussed safety with at least half a dozen people who expressed various concerns and its come to my attention that some serious challenges to the safety of other people have come up at recent jams at which I have not been present to diffuse situations. Heres a recap of the challenges people have mentioned and the solutions to these challenges are presented with them. If there are additional issues of which I am unaware, please please please let me know, PM is fine if you dont want to say anything publicly which is obviously what happened with all these other conversations as well. Thanks for taking the time to read and consider your impact on others. Challenge 1: Oil based fuel all over the ground; people slipping because oil doesnt evaporate solution: 1. spin out if youre using tiki fuel, kerosine or lamp oil and do NOT attempt a ground score. be sure to spin out AWAY from the main spinning area. solution 2: recognize that youre oil based fuel will not, unlike white gas, evaporate. it is a safety hazard for the other artists and the photographers to have to walk in your oil. Not only that, it leaves residue the next day. this really is not okay. Solution 3: dont fully soak the tool so that you wont have spray coming off the tool. Challenge 2: People not spinning the prop are getting sprayed with fuel after artists allegedly spin out solution 1: spin out better -- this means harder and longer solution 2: ask the crowd to move back to create more space. Solution 3: dont fully soak the tool so that you wont have spray coming off the tool. Solution 4: when starting your burn, do slower moves less likely to create spray at the start of the burn. Challenge 3: People playing tag in the space putting photographers and non players at risk solution 1: move the game into the fountain and make that the field of play thats in bounds. This will require moving the depot out of the fountain but it will address a ton of safety issues including keeping the game contained. solution 2: inform everyone where the in bounds area for the game is before you start playing and actually get people to move out of the game space before you start. Challenge 4: There is not enough space between where the dancers are spinning and the fuel depot to for there to be a 25 distance, the legal requirement for a permitted event in SF, something wed like to demonstrate so the SFFD can see we are on our shit. (Frankly, we havent had enough for there to be 15 and ive seen people spinning less than 10 people from the depot so this is an actual thing, not just what wed like ideally.) solution 1: walk farther out into the open plaza and draw the photographers and crowd with you. solution 2: move the depot farther from the location where youll be spinning solution 3: ask the photographers and crowd to move to make space for you to spin farther from the depot. Challenge 5: the spinning space is fine at 8:30 when theres only 2 people spinning but the crowd gathers and then the space is too small for more spinners later and everyone feels cramped. solution 1: communicate. solution 2: ask the audience to move and if you need to, do it with your lit prop. literally, push them back. Trust me on this, it will work. Challenge 6: People putting the wrong fuel in other peoples dip buckets and people getting burned later because they are eating the wrong fuel and dont know it solution 1: bring your own dip bucket solution 2: dont use other peoples buckets without express permission in the moment from them. Even if youve used someones bucket in the past, it doesnt necessarily mean you can that night or that they have the same fuel in there that evening, so be aware that you may not know all the details. Challenge 7: people using other peoples dip cans without permission because an open can is not permission to use it! solution 1: bring your own dip container solution 2: get permission to use another persons dipping bucket. theres a lot of reasons they may not want to share and they have a right to say no, so please respect that and dont assume an open bucket is a yes. challenge 8: open dip cans spilling on the plaza solution 1: make sure you have a dip bucket with a lid solution 2: put the lid on the can before you go spin fire. solution 3: bring a catch pan to collect stray fuel and recycle it into your fuel storage (and still close your dip can) challenge 9: fire breathers leaving residue in an area that is challenging for the safety of others*** solution 1: breath off to the side solution 2: alert those near where youll be breathing that it will happen so they are safe solution 3: tell the photographers so you can take them with you and they get good photos! *** generally speaking, were doing well with this one issue but i left it here because the others are here also and its a good reminder. Challenge 10: any one of the issues 1-9 is happening, people see it happening, people dont feel safe yet no one is doing anything about it. IMO, this is the worst problem. Solution 1: take action and say something. Solution 2: if you dont feel comfortable taking action alone, talk to others and enroll them in taking action as a group and take action together Solution 3: walk away. Please like if you read this far so I can get a sense of how many people actually got the memo. thanks!
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 01:38:58 +0000
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