BBC, Sky and More UK Broadcasters Lay Out Guidelines for Resuming TV Production
BBC, Sky, ITV and more U.K. broadcasters published a 15-page set of industry guidelines for safely resuming television production amid the coronavirus Monday.
Published by ITV, BBC, Sky, Channel 4, Channel 5, STV, ITN, the Association for Commercial Broadcasters and On-Demand Services (COBA), as well as the trade association Pact, the document, titled “TV Production Guidance: Managing the risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Production Making,” is “intended as a high-level framework to provide guidance and support” for producers.
The guidelines focus on these six steps, which are labeled the “basic requirements” for restarting production: specifically consider people at higher risk of harm; heighten precautions for everyone at work; reduce the number of people involved; consider editorial “on camera” requirements; consider mental health and wellbeing; and create a “feedback loop.”
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The safety document also gives suggestions for assessing COVID-19 related risks for productions in these key areas: travel, location, work activities, work equipment, work patterns, rest areas, first aid and emergency services, masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment, and mental health.
The guidelines cover “the broad range and scale of all TV programme making in every genre for TV,” but note that “specific information and guidance on managing the risks associated with film and high-end TV drama production” has been published by the British Film Commission (BFC).
U.K. broadcasters created these precautions through a collaboration of “cross industry experts in this area along with external expertise provided by Dr. Paul Litchfield CBE and Mary Lawrence, Partner, Osborne Clarke LLP.”
You can find the document in full here.
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