A film set health and safety advisor helps a production identify risks, plan workable precautions and respond when circumstances change. Their contribution can start during prep, continue through technical recces and extend to practical support while filming.
The role is about helping people make informed decisions. A useful advisor understands the planned activity, listens to the departments delivering it and turns safety concerns into clear actions that production can organise.
For producers, production managers and location managers, the important question is what support the shoot actually needs. These seven tasks explain where an advisor can contribute and what to clarify before booking.
1. Understand the production before arriving on set
An advisor needs a useful picture of the work, rather than simply a production title and filming date. A studio interview, a night exterior and a scene involving vehicles create different questions.
Start with the schedule, location information and a straightforward description of the activities. Highlight specialist sequences and explain what is confirmed, provisional or still being developed.
An early discussion also helps establish the scope of the appointment. Is the advisor reviewing documents, attending recces, supporting particular filming days or providing advice throughout the production?
A written scope gives both sides something practical to work from. It also identifies gaps that need another department or specialist.
2. Contribute to technical recces
A technical recce gives departments the opportunity to consider how a location will work in practice. For safety planning, it can expose issues that photographs and floor plans leave unclear.
Questions might include:
- How will crew and equipment move between the working areas?
- Where could production vehicles and pedestrians interact?
- What access restrictions affect the proposed setup?
- How will changing daylight or weather affect the activity?
- Which arrangements need confirming with the location owner?
The advisor should work alongside the production team and Heads of Department. An observation becomes more useful when it ends with a named person, a proposed action and a date for resolving it.
For example, identifying a narrow entrance is only a starting point. Production still needs to establish what that means for the equipment, vehicle movements and emergency access planned for that location.
3. Prepare production-specific risk assessments
Risk assessments should describe the work the production intends to carry out. Changing the title on an old document does not explain a new location or sequence.
An advisor can help develop documentation around the relevant activities, people and precautions. Departmental information remains important: the people arranging lighting, transport or specialist effects know details that may not be apparent from the shooting schedule.
The output should be understandable to the people using it. Avoid vague instructions such as “take care” when the real requirement is an agreed route, a controlled working area or an action that must be completed before setup.
CS-15’s Health and Safety Advisors can support technical recces and production-specific assessments as part of an agreed service.
4. Work with departments on practical solutions
An advisor is most useful when involved in the conversation while options are still available. Raising an unresolved issue immediately before a take gives production fewer opportunities to respond.
Practical support means understanding what a department is trying to achieve and considering workable ways to do it. Sometimes the answer involves changing the timing, access arrangements, equipment position or proposed method.
It also means recognising the limits of the advisor’s own expertise. A general safety appointment should not be assumed to include every specialist assessment, technical approval or operational role.
Where water, height, fire or other specialist activities are involved, agree who provides the relevant expertise and how their advice will feed into the production plan.
5. Support the filming day
On-set support can help a production check how its arrangements are working once people, equipment and activities come together.
The precise role depends on the booking. It might include discussing a proposed change, reviewing an unfamiliar working area or helping production management resolve a concern raised by a department.
Clear communication matters. The advisor needs to know who can make decisions, how urgent concerns are raised and how any agreed changes reach the people affected.
They should also understand the boundaries between their role and those of the assistant directors, department heads, medical team and specialist safety personnel. A familiar job title is not a substitute for an agreed scope.
6. Respond when the plan changes
A change of location, additional setup or revised sequence can make earlier assumptions unreliable. A document prepared during prep should not be treated as permanently settled.
Consider an illustrative example: a scene planned for a courtyard moves inside because of rain. The production now needs to consider the revised room layout, access, equipment placement and people working within the space.
The advisor can help identify what needs revisiting and who should contribute. The aim is to review the changed activity before it proceeds, rather than merely updating paperwork afterwards.
HSE’s film, TV and broadcasting guidance explains that production risks and controls need review as work develops.
7. Make responsibilities and handovers clear
Advice needs an owner and a route into production decisions. If a recommendation is accepted, someone must arrange the action and confirm that it has happened.
Agree how outstanding points will be recorded, who receives them and what happens when the advisor is not on site. This is especially useful where support involves occasional visits or remote advice.
Appointing an advisor does not transfer an employer’s legal duties to that person. HSE makes this distinction explicit in its production guidance.
An effective handover should therefore explain what has been reviewed, which actions remain open and who is responsible for following them through.
Choosing a film set health and safety advisor
Ask about relevant qualifications, production experience, availability and the proposed scope. Request a clear explanation of what the service includes and which activities require separate specialist input.
CS-15’s team brings current and former frontline emergency service experience to its production support. That background sits alongside the production-specific planning and communication needed for the individual booking.
If you also want someone to organise medics and specialist safety personnel around the schedule, explore the Safety Coordinator service. It combines safety advice with a wider coordination role.
A film set health and safety advisor can support a short shoot or a longer production. The right arrangement is the one with a clear scope, useful communication and enough information to address the actual work.
Get in touch with CS-15 with your dates, locations and planned activities to discuss the support your production needs.
