User:Chris Higgs

Chris Higgs’ An Introduction to Rigging in the Entertainment Industry is a unique reference work for this wide-ranging subject. The book is a practical guide to rigging techniques and practices and also thoroughly covers safety issues and discusses the implications of working within recommended guidelines and regulations.

Chris Higgs’ career was paved from working in regional theatres through to specializing in rigging and stage machinery. Health issues put a stop to full time rigging in the late nineties, at which point Chris applied his extensive experience in this field to safety and rigging training. Although an essential addition to the bookshelf of anyone working at height and with temporary overhead structures, this book is not intended to replace any formal training and should be used as a complement to safety training, not a replacement.

Chris Higgs’ new book covers the regulations and use of equipment in greater detail. Continuing where he left off with his highly successful An Introduction to Rigging in the Entertainment Industry (also published by Entertainment Technology Press), The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) are discussed at length and chapter 2 provides a model Code of Practice for Rigging in Venues. Rigging Theory covers everything from Factors of Safety and Terminations of Ropes and Wire Ropes to Breasts and Brails and Hotel and Ballroom Rigging. Equipment is fully described, as is the rigging process itself. The final chapter covers Working at Height, from the regulations involved and use of access machines through to example training courses. For the future, the author makes note of Soft Landing Systems.

Incorporated throughout the book is continued reference to as much guidance material as there is available from the likes of the HSE, British Standards and the ABTT’s Code of Practice for ‘Flying’.

Chris Higgs' books to date