Safety Rules & Regulations

Inside the class and out, safety is of upmost importance. All participants must abide by safety protocols and any member violating these policies may be removed from participating on the activity or production, prohibited from participating on further CINE activities and productions, and face further action by the University.

No shot is worth risking a life.

In-Class Production Safety

In order to minimize the potential for accidents, students enrolled in specific laboratory activities and fieldwork, courses shall be instructed regarding safety rules, regulations, and practices associated with the use of laboratory materials, machinery, equipment, and other items identified as applicable by the department or instructor.

The Safety Verification Form Procedures are as followed: 

  1. Faculty must review the Safety verification that is assigned to their course type on day one of instruction.
  2. The faculty DocuSign should be opened and displayed in class while reviewing the information.
  3. Check off each item as it is reviewed.

Verification types areas as follows:

  • Post-Production 
    • 272 - Editing Lab I
    • 320 - Post-Production Sound
    • 327 - Producing I
    • 337 - Digital Arts Production
    • 347 - Introduction to Visual Effects
    • 416 - Editing II
    • 417 - Editing III
    • 418 - Color Correction
    • 427 - Prod II: Prod Feature Films
    • 437 - 3D Computer Animation
    • 490 - S Topics Film and Electronic Arts 
  • Production WITH Ladder 
    • 170 - On-Set Safety and Best Practices
    • 305 - Production Workshop I
    • 323 - Cinematic Lighting
    • 328 - Lighting I
    • 336 - Production II
    • 338 - Television Studio Producing
    • 340 - Production III: Adv Prod A
    • 341 - Advanced Cinematography I
    • 342 - Production IV: Adv Prod B
    • 343 - Advanced Cinematography II
    • 360 - Independent Media Production
    • 370 - On-Set Safety & Best Practices
    • 438 - Television Studio Directing
    • 490 - S Topics Film and Electronic Arts 
  • Production WITHOUT Ladder 
    • 210 Sight, Sound & Story
    • 307 Production Sound
    • 322 Experimental Filmmaking 
    • 381 Directing the Documentary (Spring) 
    • 382 Documentary Production I (Fall) 
    • 383 Documentary Production II (Spring) 

Faculty must sign via DocuSign confirming that they have reviewed the document with a specific class.

  • This link will be emailed out to faculty, but not to be used by students. 
  • A new document should be filled out for each section of a course that is taught.

Students must complete the Safety Verification via the Microsoft Forms link once reviewed by a faculty member. This link will be found at the end of the DocuSign as well as in the email sent to instructors.

  • Faculty must email the verification to their students.
  • Students must be signed into SSO.

A spreadsheet will be posted with a list of students who have completed the safety verification.

  • Faculty must cross-reference this document to verify all students have completed the safety verification. 

Lecture Courses

  • No safety verification needed

 

General Safety

Material Safety Data Sheets provide information regarding health and safety for chemicals that may be used in our department, such as Morning Mist.

These documents can be found in our SDS folder.

In the interest of CSULB CINE student’s education, what follows are the Safety Bulletins formulated and distributed by the Industry Wide Labor Management Safety Committee for the motion picture and television industry.

These bulletins are useful resources for planning and executing your production safely.

Safety Bulletins distributed by:

  • Contract Services Administration Trust Fund

Appropriate Attire

Painting must be covered in your Risk Assessment Safety Plan.

  • Location/type
    • Where will you be painting? Will there be proper ventilation? Are you using drop sheets/tarps?
    • Only water-based paints may be used 
      • Any non-water-based paints require approval through the COTA Chemical Hygiene Officer
    • Proper PPE must be worn, including safety masks, gloves, if spray paint is used: glasses

Electricity: Be cautious around electrical equipment. If you are not trained to operate or set up electrical equipment, have someone more experienced do it.

No repairs should be performed or attempted by any person other than CINE Production staff.

Make sure that cables are labeled properly and are covered by a mat or taped down when in a heavy traffic area, if allowed.

Safety Bulletins

Use of fog/haze requires CINE training. Please see training for more information.

Water-based Fog/Haze only. The use of oil-based fluids is prohibited by CINE.

On-Campus

  • Fog/Haze use requires 1-month minimum approval time.
    • Approval needed through Campus Events Office.
    • Fog/Haze fluid purchase requires approval through COTA Chemical Hygiene Officer Steven Luis, Steven.Luis@csulb.edu.
  • Productions must pay for Fire Marshall fees.
  • Smoke/Hazer training must be completed and attached for any persons operating the machine.

Off-Campus

Must follow the policies and requirements of the overseeing Permit Office. 

Atmosphere aerosols & other particulates training required.

Fog/Haze fluid requires two week minimum approval time through the COTA Chemical Hygiene Officer Steven Luis, Steven.Luis@csulb.edu. 

On and Off-Campus Approval Process

  • Speak with your professor and Production and Technical Safety Supervisor about fog/haze use in your shoot.
  • Email the COTA Hygiene Officer with the following:
    • Make/Model number of fog machine.
    • Chemical Safety Data Sheet (SDS) of the liquid you will be using.
    • Completed Smoke/Hazer training for any persons operating the machine.
    • Location info for where the machine will be used. 
      • Indicate how many people will be in the space
      • Provide photos
      • Provide overhead diagrams 
  • Once you have received approval from the COTA Chemical Hygiene Officer, add the training document to the production's Safety Plan.

Safety Bulletins

Generators

Dollies, Jibs, Heavy Stands, Lenses, Condors, Cranes, Power Ladders and Scaffold

  • Falls from ladders can cause severe injury to oneself, just as a falling object from a ladder can cause injury to oneself, as well as others. Safe ladder practices are essential at all times.
  • Always maintain three points of contact when climbing a ladder.
  • Only one person on a ladder at a time.
  • Do not stand or work on the top two steps of a ladder.
  • Do not lean or overreach from a ladder or scaffold.
  • Always face the ladder when ascending or descending.
  • Do not place ladders on boxes to obtain extra height.
  • Make sure the ladder is fully open and the spreader is locked. The outriggers must be in place and locked down when using scaffolding.
  • Do not place a ladder or scaffold in front of a door that opens onto the ladder unless the door is blocked open, locked from access, or guarded.
  • Do not use a ladder or scaffold on an uneven surface.
  • Do not use a ladder without someone else present in the area.
  • Store ladders in their proper location after use.

Safety Bulletins

Any requests to dispose of hazardous material will need to be sent to the COTA Hygiene Officer with a CC to the CINE Production Office. The form to request disposal can be found in the CINE Policies and Procedures Sharepoint.

  • Batteries
    • Batteries should be given to the E-center for proper disposal.
  • Paint
    • Wet paint must be sent out through EHS.
    • Paint may be left to dry then may be disposed of normally.

CINE/COTA ladder training is required for any person(s) using a ladder during an in class exercise and/or on a registered production. If ladder use is necessary during class, the instructor will provide in class ladder training. 

Ladders are only permitted on productions when one or more crew members have completed the CINE/COTA ladder training, and if the ladder is CINE-approved. Anyone using or assisting with the ladder must wear a hardhat. 

Please see training for more information. 

On-Set Production Safety

A Safety meeting must be led by the 1st AD (or Producer if there is no 1st AD) at the start of each filming day before any work has started.  All cast, participants, and crew must be present and any heads of department that need to review safety information. The 1st AD must review the production safety plan, any specific safety hazards that may be present on set or any other elements that may affect the safety of the cast/crew.

All participants must be provided with safety documents prior to filming these include:

  • Policies and Procedures
  • CINE Equipment & Facilities Cleaning Guidelines
  • Risk Assessment Safety Plan

A first aid kit must be available at all times on set and crew should be made aware of it’s location.

Review the location of the nearest fire extinguisher and emergency exits.

Every crew member is expected to behave with utmost professionalism.

The safety keys are the Producer, the UPM/Line Producer, the Director, the Assistant Director, the Production Coordinator, the Second AD and the Key Grip. They are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that best practices are followed on set, but it is also the key crew members and everyone’s individual responsibility to ensure production is safe.

This includes freedom from harassment and discrimination. If anyone is behaving unprofessionally, it is everyone’s responsibility to report it to the supervising professor.

Overtime and Turnaround times

Production overtime is not allowed on CSULB productions. The maximum time for shooting each day is 12 work hours inclusive of an hour lunch break.

Each class may have specific max work hours below the 12-hour limit, please see your professor for more information.

30-minute lunches are only allowed on production days that are less than 6 hours, including wrap time.

With proper and comprehensive preparation, there is no reason to jeopardize the health and safety of volunteers on set. If student leaders on set require or ask participants to engage in overtime, volunteers and students are expected to anonymously report them to CINE Professors and/or staff.

Turnaround time

12-hour turnaround periods in-between consecutive days is required. It is the individual participant’s responsibility to ensure that there is a 12 hour period between production days, including between different productions.

Call Time

Call time is the time at which each participant is scheduled to arrive on set, ready to work. Times may vary for each person, so times should be clearly listed on the Call sheet.

Grace - Meal Breaks

Grace is not allowed on CINE productions.

Stunts of any type including but not limited to:

Students are prohibited from staging stunts or employing any type of action that may cause bodily injury to either the actor(s) or crew member(s).

  • Fight Scenes
  • Falls
  • Chase Scenes
  • Racing of any type
  • Projectile Devices
  • Water Scenes
  • Underwater cinematography
  • Weapons
    • Prop weapons (real or toy) including guns, knives. swords, etc., are prohibited on campus and will NOT be authorized for student film/video productions.
  • Guns
  • Knives
  • Blanks
  • Squibs
  • Moving Vehicles
  • Boats (whether moored or adrift) 
  • Fire/ Open Flame/ Pyrotechnics (includes explosives)
  • Aircraft (of any type, including drones)
  • Animals
    • Animals are prohibited from being on set even if not a part of production.
  • Scaffolding over 15 feet 
  • Live Gangster Rap Music 
  • Hard-core or soft-core pornography
  • Nudity
  • Broken Glass

Restricted Locations (Off-Campus)

  • No productions outside a “30-mile zone” with CSULB as the starting point.

Restricted Locations (On-Campus)

  • Puvungna 22-acre land on Bellflower and Determination Drive
  • Restrooms
  • Lough Fountain at Maxson Plaza, Brotman Hall
  • Building and Corporate Names

Filming date restrictions:

Drugs and alcohol are not permitted on set. Any productions found to have drugs or alcohol on set will be shut down and students will be prohibited from working on further productions.

CSULB is a smoke and tobacco free campus, thus depictions of tobacco products and/or smoking requires additional department and university approvals.

Please see BREATHE website for more info.       

The depiction of smoking, drug and/or alcohol use/abuse must be considered necessary for the integrity of the project’s artistic intentions and to achieve student learning outcomes.  

Project participants will adhere to all department and COTA safety practices as outlined in their respective policies and comply with all applicable state and federal laws. Under no circumstances is the use, possession, or distribution of any substance prohibited by state or federal law permitted.

An approved Production Registration is required to gain approval for Drug/Alcohol Depiction from the Production Office. Drug/Alcohol Depiction should be done as safely as possible which should be addressed in the Risk Assessment Safety Plan. To receive the DocuSign link please contact CINE-Production@csulb.edu.  

                                                 

The action of an item can make anything a weapon. Because of this, each prop is looked at on a case-by-case basis.

Prop weapon replicas and guns are never allowed on CINE productions

On-Campus

  • 10pm - 7am
    • 10pm - 1am requires approval
    • 1am - 5am No filming allowed
    • 5am - 7am requires approval
  • Noise and Light restrictions after 10pm

Off-Campus

  • Night filming may vary from city to city. Please check with local permitting offices to verify the hours allowed to film at night.

Hi-Visibility vests may need to be worn while filming at night to help provide visibility to pedestrians and community members.

When to include on the Risk Assessment Safety Plan (RASP): Should be filled out when the production is filming outdoors at night, overnight or when it is dark out. Inside locations won’t need to include night filming unless walking to a vehicle is required and/or grip/lights are used on the exterior of the location. 

Approval for costuming requires description of costume, pictures of actor in costume and with/without makeup. Photos from all angles are required (Front, Back and Bust) to help the approval process. Costumes that need approval can be any of the following but not limited to:

  • First Responders (Medical Personnel, Firefighters, etc.)
  • Any costuming that uses badges (Police Officers, Security or etc.)
  • Any costume that uses masks (Halloween Masks or anything that is blocking any actor's face)

On-Campus approval will come from the CINE Production Office, Campus Events Office and University Police as a discussion from the Request for On-Campus Film Permit. Approval from the CINE Production Office and Campus Events Office does not guarantee complete approval. University Police have the final say when it comes to approvals.

Off-Campus approval will come from the CINE Production Office after communicating on the Risk Assessment Safety Plan. Once approved, students should still notify the governing Police body about the costuming, unless you are filming completely inside a private residence.

The Department of Cinematic Arts requires that any scripted scene involving nudity, partial nudity (i.e., exposed intimate body parts) intimate physical contact (including but not limited to kissing, embracing, and simulated sexual activity), and/or vulnerable situation (i.e., bathing suits, undergarments, etc.) requires an Intimacy Coordinator or Advocate, as determined by faculty and staff. The department defines an Intimacy Coordinator as: a person with an Intimacy Coordinator certification from a SAG-AFTRA-approved organization, or a person enrolled in such a program. For scenes involving limited intimacy and/or vulnerability issues, an Advocate may be used in place of an Intimacy Coordinator with faculty and staff consent; an advocate could be a student. The proposed Intimacy Coordinator or Advocate must be approved by faculty and staff. Student filmmakers, crew, and actors/participants must agree to follow the guidance and direction of the Intimacy Coordinator/Advocate during the filming of relevant scenes; faculty and staff must approve of such scenes and filming plans in advance as well. The Intimacy Coordinator/Advocate is meant to bridge the gap between the on-screen talent and the directors and producers. They create a safe environment for the on-screen talent in any scenes involving nudity, partial nudity and/or intimate physical contact. They help ensure the boundaries (physical, mental and emotional) of the on-screen talent are respected and maintained. SAG-AFTRA has a list of registered Intimacy Coordinatorsto contact if required by faculty and/or staff. No one should be given an “Intimacy Coordinator” credit unless they are a trained and certified Intimacy Coordinator. 

A rehearsal is required prior to stepping on set. This rehearsal should be for any to all scenes that have Intimacy. One rehearsal is required but more is helpful. These meetings should be a space for the actors to understand the scene and others boundaries without the pressure of the camera/schedule. An intimacy Contract should be signed prior to doing these rehearsals, so the actor(s) know how the scene will play out.

All productions should follow CSULB’s Heat Illness Prevention Program, which can be found here. Please keep in mind that this plan should be activated when temperatures in the environments where students, faculty and staff work exceed 87ºF.