Guidance

Injury Prevention in Production

The IPC Best Practice Guidelines are an industry resource developed as a foundational tool to support producers seeking to establish safer working practices ahead of their next project. This is a living document and will be regularly updated to reflect developments in IPC practice.

For tailored production support or to discuss company policy development, please contact us for more information. 

Best Practice Guidelines for Injury Prevention in Stage & Screen Production

1. Production to consider the engagement of an Injury Prevention Consultant during budget creation phase.

2. Insurer and/or Insurance Broker may engage an Injury Prevention Consultant to inform risk management for the Insured where the Injury Prevention Consultant has not been engaged by the Insured (production) directly.

3. Scripted scene material for intended physical execution by talent and/or crew of a highly physical nature and/or where its creative intention may pose a risk of injury to be flagged by producers in consultation with an Injury Prevention Consultant in pre-production risk analysis. Additional scenes may be flagged by the Injury Prevention Consultant.

4. Production to engage the appropriate specialist practitioner(s) to ensure adequate preparation for and safe execution of material in flagged scenes.

5. Production to consider the engagement of an Injury Prevention Consultant to oversee physical scene material in production, excluding material categorised under stunt or intimacy. Where a Stunt Coordinator or Intimacy Coordinator requests the collaborative support of an Injury Prevention Consultant for such scene material, engagement is recommended.

6. Production to consider the engagement of an Injury Prevention Consultant to provide solutions which ensure the safety, sustainability and accessibility of physical scene material to disabled talent, in conjunction with the engagement of an Access Coordinator.

7. No initial auditions and/or screen tests are to include scene material inclusive of physical contact and/or heavy impact.

8. Physical demand of acting or performance roles to be transparently expressed in casting briefs.

9. Creative team members who will lead scenes including highly physical material or otherwise flagged material should be present during relevant portions of the casting process and their input considered during selection. Such creative team members may include but are not limited to: Directors; Injury Prevention Consultants; Fight Directors; Stunt Coordinators; Access Coordinators; Intimacy Coordinators; Intimacy Directors; Movement Directors; Choreographers.

10. Production to consider the engagement of an Injury Prevention Consultant during the casting process to deliver best practice guidance and ensure physical demand of role is accurately understood and considered.

11. Where not arranged by the Insurer, production to consider the inclusion of pre-production cast physiotherapy assessments.

12. Production to consider the inclusion of mental health risk assessment for the full script, and where necessary proactively engage the appropriate practitioners to oversee safe facilitation of scene material.

13. All relevant departments are to be informed of and appropriately prepared to respond to the needs of all talent executing physical scene material. An Injury Prevention Consultant can provide interdepartmental consultation and advice where appropriate. Relevant departments include but are not limited to Wardrobe, Set Design and Props.

14. Where crew members are required to manually move set in production, consultation with an Injury Prevention Consultant is advised.

15. For productions which include fight scenes, consider the engagement of an Injury Prevention Consultant in conjunction with a Fight Director. Note that engagement of an Injury Prevention Consultant does not negate the need to engage a Fight Director.

16. Consider the engagement of an Injury Prevention Consultant in conjunction with a Movement Director to ensure risk posed to talent by pedestrian movement is identified and appropriate mitigation measures are implemented to ensure sustainability of scene material.

17. At point of contract all scenes involving a high degree of physical demand to be discussed with talent and their representative, ensuring an agreement is made with full disclosure and comprehension of all parties.

18. Encourage communication between talent and creative leads to ensure boundaries relating to the physical execution of scene material are established in rehearsals. Injury Prevention Consultant engagement is recommended to ensure the independent facilitation and protection of these boundaries in production.

19. Ensure that scenes of a highly physical nature are rehearsed frequently and prior to any live or filmed performance.

a) Ensure talent’s level of physical comfort and emotional security is never compromised.

b) Agree between all parties involved on clear measures to signal a need to modify or halt the scene mid performance.

c) The physical execution of these scenes must be pre-agreed to secure the safety of all involved. Changes to these moments must be mutually agreed between the relevant talent and the creative lead. An Injury Prevention Consultant can independently facilitate these changes.

20. In the event that on-screen/on-stage talent sustains an injury on a production, the engagement of an Injury Prevention Consultant is recommended to support the return to work process. Once the affected talent is medically signed off as fit to return to work the Injury Prevention Consultant may advise on adaptation of execution in order to minimise risk of injury recurrence. In such circumstances, the Injury Prevention Consultant may be provided by the Insurer.

© 2017-2025 Copyright Tome Levi; Injury Prevention Consultancy Ltd. All rights reserved.

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