Note: The definitions which have not been taken from the Occupational Health and Safety Act and regulation under this Act are provided for convenience only and should not be interpreted to have legal significance.

Act:
The Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.O. 1990 (OHSA)
Aerial or Elevating Work Platforms:
Hydraulic or electrical controlled devices used to elevate personnel or materials. These include: scissor lifts, articulated boom lifts, individual personnel lifts, self-propelled lifts, manual "push-around" lifts, elevating rolling work platforms, self-propelled elevating work platforms, boom-type elevating work platforms, and vehicle-mounted aerial devices.
Authorized:
Certified by a professional engineer.
Anchorage:
Certified point of attachment for lifelines, lanyards or deceleration devices.
Best Practice:
A program, process, strategy or activity that:
  • has been shown to be effective in the prevention of workplace injury or illness
  • has been implemented, maintained and evaluated
  • is based on current information
  • is of value to, or transferable to, other organizations

Best practices are living documents and must be reviewed and modified regularly to assess their validity, accuracy and applicability. They may exceed the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Competent Person
" A person who:
  1. is qualified because of knowledge, training and experience to organize the work and its performance
  2. is familiar with this Act and the regulations that apply to the work
  3. (has knowledge of any potential or actual danger to health or safety in the workplace" [s. 1(1), OHSA]
Connector:
A self-closing device used to connect various parts of personal fall arrest or work-positioning systems.
Construction:
Includes erection, alteration, repair, dismantling, demolition, structural maintenance, painting, land clearing, earth moving, grading, excavating, trenching, digging, boring, drilling, blasting, or concreting, the installation of any machinery or plant, and any work or undertaking in connection with a project. [s.1 (1),OHSA
Deceleration Device:
Any mechanism, such as a rope grab, rip-stop lanyard, integral lanyard, tearing or deforming lanyard, automatic self-retracting lifeline/lanyards, etc., which serves to dissipate a substantial amount of kinetic energy during a fall, and thus limit the arrest force.
Deceleration Distance:
The distance between the location of a worker’s full body harness attachment point at the moment the deceleration device is activated during a fall and the location of that attachment point after the worker comes to a full stop.
Due Diligence:
The level of judgement, care, prudence, determination, and activity that a person would reasonably be expected to display in particular circumstances. Regarding occupational health and safety, this means taking all reasonable precautions, in the particular circumstances, to prevent injuries to workers in the workplace.
Fall Protection:
A method of minimizing the possibility of falling.
Fall Arrest
A method of minimizing the effects of a fall.
Fall Restricting:
A work positioning system used to minimize the distance of a fall to 60 cm (2 feet).
Free Fall:
The act of falling before a personal fall arrest system begins to activate.
Free Fall Distance:
The vertical distance between the on set of the fall to the point where the fall arrest system begins to apply force to arrest the fall.
Full Body Harness:
A manufactured system of webbing secured about the worker in a manner that will distribute the fall arrest forces equally over the thighs, pelvis, waist, chest and shoulders with a means of attaching it to other components of a personal fall arrest system.
Guardrail System:
A temporary or permanent barrier erected to prevent employees from falling to lower levels.
Industrial Establishment:
An office building, factory, arena, shop or office, and any land, buildings and structures appertaining thereto. [s.1 (1), OHSA]
Lanyard:
Flexible line of rope, wire rope or strap which generally has a connector at each end for connecting the body belt or body harness to a deceleration device, lifeline, or anchorage.
Life Line:
A flexible line connected to an anchorage at one end to suspend vertically (vertical lifeline), or connected to anchorages at both ends to stretch horizontally (horizontal lifeline), and which serves as a means for connecting other components of a personal fall arrest system to the anchorage.
Lifts:
Aerial or elevating work platforms.
Lighting Rigging:
The placement and strike of luminaries and/or cables for a production
Load-In or Take-In (fit-ups, set-up):
The initial delivery and installation of production elements including scenery, electrics, audio, etc. at the rehearsal or performance venues.
Load-Out or Take-out (Strike, Take Down):
The dismantling and removal of production elements including scenery, electrics, audio, etc. from the location venue.
Location Venue:
A venue may be depending upon its use, any one or more, of a rental venue for use by production companies.
Lower Levels:
Areas or surfaces to which a worker can fall. Such areas or surfaces include, but are not limited to, ground levels, floors, platforms, ramps, runways, orchestra pits, traps, water, equipment, structures, or portions thereof.
Opening:
Gap or void 30 inches (76 cm) or more high and 18 inches (48 cm) or more wide, in a wall or partition, through which a worker can fall to a lower level.
Over-Climbing:
Climbing above a primary anchor point.
Personal Fall Arrest System:
System used to arrest a worker in a fall from an elevation. It consists of an anchorage, connectors and full-body harness, and may include a lanyard, deceleration device and/or lifeline.
Re-Set:
The moving of production elements to prepare for filming.
Risk Assessment:
The identification of hazards so that controls (administrative, engineering, personal protective equipment – PPE) can be implemented.
Rope Grab:
Deceleration device which travels on a lifeline and automatically, by friction, engages the lifeline and locks to arrest the fall of a worker.
Rolling A-Frame Ladders:
An A-Frame ladder positively attached to a dolly board. The locking castor wheels are to be outside the profile of the ladder. Fall Arrest should be used if working beyond the ladder profile.
Self-Retracting Elevating Work Platforms; Self-propelled platforms; Scissor Lifts:
A portable work station which is moved along the floor/ground/deck by mechanical means.
Self-Retracting Lifeline/Lanyard:
A deceleration device that automatically adjusts its length under mild tension and arrests a fall.
Snap-Hook:
Connector comprised of a hook-shaped member with a self-closing keeper, or similar arrangement, which may be opened to permit the hook to receive an object and, when released, automatically closes to retain the object.
Supervisor:
"A person who has charge of a workplace or authority over a worker." [s.1(1), OHSA].
Toe-Board:
Low protective barrier that is an integral part of a guardrail system and will prevent the fall of materials or equipment to lower levels.
Travel Restraint:
A system that prevents workers from reaching an unprotected edge or opening.
Work Positioning Systems:
Aerial or elevating work platforms, ladders, boatswain’s chairs and scaffolding.
Walking/Working Surface
Any surface, whether horizontal or vertical on which a worker walks or works, such as floors, roofs, ramps, bridges, runways, but not including ladders.
Warning Line System:
Temporary demarcation erected to warn workers that they are approaching an unprotected edge. This demarcation shall outline an area at least 2 metres from a fall hazard in which work may take place without the use of guardrail or safety net systems to protect workers in the area. (May also be referred to as a "bump line")
Work/Maintenance:
A scheduled call, outside of shooting schedule times, for maintenance or touch-ups involving any production element(s).
Work Positioning Device System:
Full-body harness system rigged to allow a worker to be supported on an elevated surface and work with both hands.
Worker:
"A person who performs work or supplies services for monetary compensation…" [s. 1 (1), OHSA].