We've made an important decision which will affect any future bookings. It was once said there is no Elevator to Success, you have to take the Stairs. Well we have, and we've done a lot of lifting gear up the stairs during our 5 years on the road but no more. We going to leave it to the young ones from now and as if there is one thing experience has taught us it's that 100% of accidents we've suffered have been because of stairs.
We owe it to all the clients with future bookings to ensure we are working safe so that when it comes to their events, we are there and fit for duty. Being self employed we don't get sick pay and a lengthy lay up could be the end of the business. Its become a risk we're unwilling to take and for good reason.
Even a modest DJ rig weighs around 300kg and some bigger rigs can be double this and while some venues have inside, wide, sensible staircases, or provide a service elevator to help get your gear to the performance area, many others don't.
We already have a lengthy blacklist of venues where we refuse to work, some of for insufficient performance area, some or for dangerous electrics, some or for problematic staff or silly access times but by far the largest section is for dangerous load in conditions. Outdoor metal stairs can be lethal when wet, some places have terrible lighting at night on the stairs, some places force you to load out where the public are and there is a high risk of injuring people who refuse to move or block doorways.
Once you've loaded in stood for 5 hours there has been a toll on your legs so your not 100% when it comes to packing away and again it's at this time when accidents are most likely to happen. It certainly limits offers of work and our ability to quote for some clients, but we feel this is worthwhile when you consider all the good venues out there and all the clients who trust us to be fit and well for their big occasions.
Thankfully we only have a few booking remaining with stairs and only one that we class as high risk, and we're going to use a roadie for these bookings. After that sorry, we will be recommending one of our network of younger DJs who can still leap up and down the stairs. We hope you understand and to be honest, if you have older family member, friends who like to drink a lot or disabled friends, is an upstairs venue really for you?
Andy P