Stiffed by Standards

Hidden costs that whack shows

What costs are real and what are not? Compare ticket prices, or a beer poured at a pub with prices ten or 20 years ago. Depending on size or place, we’re running hot now. And don’t start me on utility prices … ten years ago it cost the 4,000 seat venue I worked at $3,000 a day just to cool the punters and juice up the gear!

So what can be done? How about getting rid of a couple of thousand standards that rule what we do? There are north of 6,000 ‘standards’ all tucked behind the paywall at Standards Australia (also covering NZ), most of which cost you or me over $150 and up to $300 to access.

In 2025, the estimated gross revenue from all sales of Australian Standards across all channels, including major distributors and Standards Australia’s direct store, was about $174 million. According to my unglamourous research assistant (the robot), roughly a third are already aligned with international standards, and in many cases could be replaced or consolidated if Australia and NZ chose deeper EU or US alignment.

But how many of them apply to the entertainment and events industry? A surprising number, it turns out. Try this grab bag:

• AS 3745-2010 – Planning for emergencies in facilities (emergency plans, evacuation arrangements).
• AS 1428.1:2021 – Design for access and mobility (new building work) (used widely for accessible paths, seating, amenities, etc.).
• AS 1670.4-2004 – Sound systems and intercom systems for emergency purposes.
  (Note: newer editions exist for some 1670 parts in the store/catalogue, but the catalogue entry above is the one I can cite cleanly here.)
• AS 2419.1:2021 – Fire hydrant installations – design/install/commissioning.
• AS 1668.3-2001 – Smoke control in large single compartments (often relevant to arenas/large-volume spaces).
• AS/NZS 3000:2018 – Electrical installations (Wiring Rules) (design, construction and verification of electrical installations).

And then this one. AS/NZS 3760:2022 – In-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment and RCDs (Test & Tag methods and frequencies).

That’s where the larger production firms employ someone to go slowly insane, testing and tagging all day, every day. Or they rotate the chore around whomever is out of favour? While the standard itself doesn’t mandate a licence to Test and Tag, most employers and insurers require evidence of competency – usually a short course costing $400–$600.

The wise former production manager at Riverside Theatres (Col Peet) once asked me if I know which and how many pieces of legislation affected his job. He went on to list some of the Commonwealth items:

• Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)
• Live Performance Award 2020 (MA000081)
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth)
• Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (incl. sexual harassment and related workplace duties)
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (employment + access to premises/services)
• Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth) (employment discrimination)
• Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (employment and public life)
• Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) + “employee records exemption” (private sector)
• Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)
• Radiocommunications Act 1992 (Cth) and ACMA rules/licences
• Visas and engaging overseas creatives/crew (touring)
• Superannuation and payroll compliance

But wait: a theatre PM’s biggest compliance load (high risk work, rigging licensing, electrical rules enforcement, fire safety enforcement, building approvals, noise, liquor licensing, crowd control licensing, pyrotechnics, etc.) are usually State or Territory law and local authority conditions, not Commonwealth. And each State or Territory may have different versions of the same thing!

Back to the bewildering smorgasbord of Standards, here’s some more:

• AS/NZS 3012 – Electrical installations—Construction and demolition sites (often applied to event sites as a benchmark for temporary site power and inspection/testing expectations).
• AS/NZS 3017:2022 – Electrical installations—Verification by inspection and testing (inspection/test methods to demonstrate compliance).
• AS/NZS 3002:2008 – Electrical installations—Shows and carnivals (very relevant for showgrounds, mobile setups, amusement contexts).

For entertainment rigging, the “lifting standards” set is a major compliance anchor. Try this tasty menu:

• AS 1418.1 – Cranes, hoists & winches – General requirements
• AS 1418.2 – Serial hoists and winches
• AS 1418.3 – Bridge/gantry/portal/jib cranes
• AS 1418.17 – Design and construction of work boxes
• AS 1353.1 / AS 1353.2 – Flat synthetic webbing slings (specification; care and use)

If we are serious about reducing costs in live performance, we need fewer rules, clearer rules, and free access to the rules we are required to follow. Safety should be built on competence and judgement, not on how many PDFs you can afford to buy

But wait, there’s more!

At this point it’s worth knowing that Standards Australia standards are not ‘law’. They are advisory: however a lot of legislation picks up standards along the way, which then makes them (as part of Legislation) binding.

But then you hit ‘other’ standards, written by government, not Standards Australia, that are legally binding once adopted. A key example is the ABCB Standard – Temporary Structures (2015). It covers things like stages, tents/marquees and temporary tiered seating used at events (including sporting events).

Then there are inductions, the great triumph of paperwork over judgement. One of the worst I’ve endured – and a commonly cited time wasting disaster – was in place at Crown Melbourne. It was ‘one size fits all’ so kitchenhands found themselves facing questions about Test and Tag! Hopefully that dirge has been replaced with something more workable.

Inductions are meant to keep people safe. But in much of the entertainment and events industry they have become repetitive, generic, and disconnected from real risk. Crews sit through the same slides, watch the same videos, answer the same questions, again and again, simply because a different venue, council, or insurer requires its own version.

A competent rigger or technician might complete dozens of near-identical inductions each year, none of which meaningfully acknowledge their skills, experience, or previous training. There is rarely reciprocity between venues, rarely recognition of prior inductions, and almost never a focus on the specific hazards of the task being performed that day.

This is not safety culture, it is compliance theatre. It consumes time, money, and attention, while dulling the very awareness it claims to promote. When everything is an induction, nothing is.