WWW.LSIONLINE.COM • APRIL 2020 23i INDUSTRY ISSUES
- Sought after training from the author of the IET
guidebook on event power, including basic theory,
BS 7909 compliance and the industry recognised and
popular Creative Skillset Certificate in Temporary Power
Systems. - Power quality analysis
- Thermography surveys – nonintrusive preventative
maintenance - Energy monitoring and potential saving measurements
- Permanent and temporary electrical installation designs
and testing - Company safety audits and performance improvements
- Corporate electrical safety policies and procedures
increase as the lockdown ensues. We are now
not attending sites as it’s not essential, as per
the government update.”On 22 March, Solotech issued a statement on
behalf of SSE Audio, Wigwam, Capital Sound
and BCS Audio in the UK. “Along with the rest
of the Live Production industry,” it says,
“COVID-19 has had a significant and immediate
impact on our business, with the restrictions on
gatherings, live events and international travel.
Virtually all our upcoming gigs and tours have
been cancelled or postponed. Our Live
Production teams continue to liaise with our
clients and crews.“We are, however, still very much open for
business across our four UK brands: SSE Audio,
Wigwam, Capital Sound and BCS Audio. Above
all else, the health of our staff, crews and clients
is paramount to us, so to remain open, we have
introduced several measures. Many of our staff
are now working from home, where we have
effective remote-working systems in place
including video conferencing.”In the US, Clair Global is supplying its expertise
in IT, networking and communications to many
of the disaster relief centres now springing up -
something it does as standard for the
emergency contingency needs of its major
events anyway. One such partnership is with
Mountain Productions, also based inPennsylvania, now at full stretch deploying its
turnkey disaster relief structures and temporary
hospitals using Clair Global’s LAN/Wi-Fi-based
connectivity, pre-built mobile office setups,
network security and monitoring, and push-to-
talk mobile voice communication.“We’re having conference calls every day to
discuss developments throughout the Group
territories,” says Bryan Grant, director and
co-founder of Britannia Row. “Our prime
responsibility is for our people, including our
freelancers. But there are different messages
from different governments and we’re in
a global network, so it’s a challenge to
coordinate. The underlying principle is the same
throughout, however. And it goes beyond our
group, too. I’ve been comparing notes with our
friends in other companies and everyone
agrees: we’re all in the same strange boat.” As
of late March, inventory was steadily heading
back to the warehouses to wait for the world to
start spinning again. For how long, nobody
knows. As Grant says, it is “unprecedented,
uncharted territory, and fundamentally much
more devastating to the global infrastructure
than the banking crisis. This time, business is
asking them to bail us out; let’s see how they
respond.”Iain Mackie is director at events services company
A-Live Sound and Danley Distribution, both based
in Glasgow. His main concern is the aftermath of“As of late March,
inventory was
steadily heading
back to the
warehouses to
wait for the world
to start spinning
again.. .”
- Bryan Grant