Movies and TV Shows

Non-union shows can be a bit of a nightmare for safety because Producers don't have the checks on power they should. Calling foul using government outsider jobsite regulators comes with potential costs of losing your job and blacklisting you with the other powerful people affiliated with production because Producers don't want to be bothered. Going out into the middle of nowhere where it's hard to get someone from OSHA to show up while something fuckity is actively happening is another layer of complexity.

Just like any other kind of work you don't get burned by liability and manslaughter charges until the bad thing actually happens. Union Film is one of the most regimented workplaces you're ever likely to encounter. Non-union projects though run the gamut. Anyone can fund them, they can be any size and they can be staffed with anything from people untrained in industry standard to folks with decades of experience. The wise thing for a Producer to do is to cover their ass by staffing with people who will enforce good safety standards but end of day if an aspirant first time Producer on a non-union show wants to hire all newbies there no immediate recourse. It's no different than if an employer at a regular job hires someone unqualified to do a dangerous job. It is the threat of it coming back to bite you in the ass that keeps you honest.

It's not like the airline industry. Shows pop up, they incorporate, they shoot then they completely dissolve and disappear within the space of as little as a couple of months and everyone goes back to shopping around for the next gig. Every non-union show is a tiny little bubble. If individuals don't face consequences things will never get better because there's no real cohesive industry after a certain point of the non-union world. Like if you work one of those things it's because you knew somebody who personally asked you to be on show as a personal favor or you're trying to upgrade your category or get started and show up on a word of mouth recommendation with promises of gaining experience and access to a group of people with money, wild aspirations and enough connections with techs or excitable talented amateurs to make something happen that may pay off further down the line.

The whole damn thing is rubber bands and handshakes.