Two draft standards, BSR E1.22 and BSR E1.23, dealing with fire safety curtain systems and theatrical fog, have joined the two draft rigging standards available for review on the ESTA website. These two new documents will be available for review through the end of the day July 19, 2005.
BSR E1.22, Entertainment Technology - Fire Safety Curtain Systems, is one of the newly posted standards. It describes the materials, fabrication, installation, operation, testing, and maintenance of fire safety curtains and fire safety curtain systems used for theatre proscenium opening protection. This is the second public review of the document, and is a radical reworking of what had been offered before. It is a serious attempt to avoid offering a cook-book description of a fire safety curtain system and to instead specify what it is supposed to do. That is, it doesn't tell you what kind of fabric to use for a fire safety curtain, but instead tells you how strong whatever fabric you use must be and what abrasion and fire tests it must pass.
BSR E1.23, Entertainment Technology - Design and Execution of Theatrical Fog Effects, is the second of the newly posted standards. It is a standard for planning and executing fog effects. It is modeled after the well-respected NFPA standards for indoor pyrotechnics and flame effects. Those NFPA standards (NFPA 1126 and NFPA 160) help protect workers and audience members, and also help simplify working with the local authority having jurisdiction for the effects designers and technicians. E1.23, when it is finished, is expected to do the same for fog effects.
BSR E1.4, Entertainment Technology-Manual Counterweight Rigging Systems, and BSR E1.21, Entertainment Technology - Temporary Ground-Supported Overhead Structures Used to Cover the Stage Areas and Support Equipment in the Production of Outdoor Entertainment Events, are still available for review on the website until the end of the day on June 28, 2005.
The documents can be accessed by clicking here. Note that the website listing shows the reviews as ending after the dates listed above. This is because the reviews listed here end when the date listed on the website begins.