Safety first for AKT: theatre-based training company launches
Scottish tour at IOSH 10
18 March 2010
A theatre-based training company is
encouraging visitors to the Institution of Occupational Safety and
Health’s IOSH 10 conference and exhibition at the SECC in Glasgow
to ‘think again’ about workplace safety.
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see AKT Productions
performing its play, ‘Think Again’, based on the Texas oil refinery
disaster of 2005, before the company begins its tour of Scotland
with a different play, ‘Terminal’, in May.
Performances will be at 9.00am on Wednesday 24 March, and
12.00pm on Thursday 25 March, at the Networks Theatre in the IOSH
10 exhibition area. The exhibition is free to attend, and guests
can register by visiting our conference website.
“The Networks Theatre is all about sharing
best practice, offering educational content and stimulating
discussion,” said Alan Kirkwood, chair of IOSH Scotland. “There
will be networking immediately after the performance in the
Networks Lounge, which is next to the theatre.”
AKT Productions uses theatre to explore the behaviours that have
contributed to workplace accidents, so audiences can learn from it
and evaluate their own safety performance and culture. ‘Think
Again’ recreates the events surrounding an explosion at the BP
refinery in Texas City in 2005, in which 15 people died and
hundreds were injured. ‘Terminal’ looks at the roles of frontline
operatives, their supervisor and site manager in the true story of
an incident on a construction site at an airport.
“The stories we perform are drawn from
meticulous research and published material, featuring some of the
key players involved, from the highest profile to those unknown to
the general public,” said AKT facilitator Sue Briggs. “We want to
look as objectively as possible at what happened and the events
leading up to it, so we can learn from it and evaluate our own
safety performance, attitudes, culture and leadership.”
AKT is going from strength to strength with support from a
growing number of organisations. Its Scottish tour builds on a
series of successful workshops for IOSH Scotland and the Civil
Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) last year. IOSH and CECA
wanted a much wider audience to see ‘Terminal’ across Scotland, and
the tour is now set to take in Aberdeen on 11 May, Inverness on 12
May, and Cumbernauld on 13 May.