Health & Safety (India)

Introduction

All film & television productions have different health & safety risks. As part of our commitment to maintaining a safe working culture and environment, Amazon Studios (“AS”) aims to ensure our commissioned production partners (“Producers”) have appropriate health & safety policies, processes, training programs, skills, and competence to guarantee that Producers meet local legal requirements and AS’ global health & safety standards.

Producers are responsible for developing and implementing their own health & safety procedures, or hiring vendors for the same, throughout the production process. Producers must meet any and all local health & safety legal requirements and collaborate with AS as needed on any and all health & safety issues.

AS Health & Safety policies and standards may exceed local legal requirements in certain jurisdictions. Producers must always meet AS workplace health & safety standards even where local legal requirements are less stringent.

Failure to comply with AS Health & Safety policies, standards, or local legal requirements may result in an immediate shutdown of the production at the Producer’s expense. It is the Producer’s ultimate responsibility to adequately implement health and safety policies that comply with AS standards and local law.

Written Physical Production Safety Guidelines Policy

Every Producer must have a written health & safety policy in place for their productions or hire a vendor for the same. At a minimum, the policy must identify a responsible and qualified person(s) for health & safety at managerial and operational levels. The policy must set out the development, implementation, and oversight process of the applicable measures and controls to manage health & safety, job-specific training, and the management of accidents and incidents. Additionally, Producers must comply with additional requirements, as set out below.

During Production Development

As a first step, all Producers are required to complete the AS Workplace Health & Safety Onboarding Form below and submit specific company health & safety information and documentation.

Link to: Onboarding Form

Information provided by Producers via the onboarding form is considered confidential and not shared outside of Amazon Studios except as required by law.

For all Greenlit Productions, the following AS standards should be met:

After a production has been greenlit, before production begins, all Producers should provide a Script Assessment and Location Assessment to AS’ health and safety team highlighting, in detail, any and all high-risk operations and corresponding mitigation strategies for the specific production.

Risk Assessments

• As part of their required health and safety policy, every Producer must implement a written Health & Safety Risk-Assessment Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) or hire a vendor to do so. This SOP must describe the Producer’s process for identifying, managing, and establishing health and safety control measures for the production as a whole and for any high-risk production operation or task.
• In some cases, risk assessments may be required to understand and mitigate specific hazards in production. Every Producer is required to perform health & safety risk assessments for identifying and managing production risks on a production-specific basis or hire a vendor to do so. The level of detail in a health & safety risk assessment should be proportionate to the level of risk associated with the production and must be recorded in writing.
• Each health & safety risk assessment must be performed by a competent individual who, by a combination of training, skills, experience, and knowledge, has the ability to evaluate, assess, and take prompt corrective measures to mitigate production specific hazards. In some territories, appropriate certifications and/or credentials may be required to legally and adequately perform health & safety services.

For risk assessment examples or questions about risk assessment requirements, please contact AS Health & Safety team at studios-health-and-safety@amazon.com.

• High-risk operations in the production setting that require specific risk assessments may include, but are not limited to:
  • Working at Height
  • Firearm Operations
  • Stunt Operations
  • Pyrotechnic Operations
  • Watercraft Operations
  • Aircraft Operations, including UASs (Unmanned Aircraft Systems)
  • Location Tech Recces
  • Fire Risks
  • Construction Design and Management

• Specialist contractors such as stunt coordinators, special effects providers, grips, hair and makeup, and set designers must provide the Producer with written health & safety risk assessments regarding any tasks they are responsible for.

AS Health & Safety Team, at its discretion, may require Producers to provide production-specific risk assessments for individual events and/or on an ongoing basis.

Production Health and Safety Competence

• Amazon encourages Producers to provide appropriate health and safety training to personnel at all levels of production, including cast, crew, and contractors.
• Producers must nominate an individual as the Safety Advisor/Manager for each production. This individual must be the Producer’s specific point of contact for all health & safety issues.
• Producers must have access to independent and appropriately qualified health & safety professionals and legal advice to assist with production safety and meeting AS health & safety standards.

Incidents & Injuries

Producers are responsible for knowing and complying with all legal requirements for reporting accidents and incidents to appropriate authorities in the jurisdictions where productions are being filmed. AS must be separately informed whenever accident or incident reporting to local authorities is completed.

AS requires all commissioned productions to implement a written process for managing and reporting accidents and incidents.

Accidents and incidents (including near misses) must be investigated to determine the cause and identify any measures that could prevent a re-occurrence. The level of detail in the investigation and subsequent report should be proportionate to the level of injury or potential risk.

The AS health & safety team must be informed of any accident or incident requiring medical attention beyond first aid.

Incident Criteria and the Reporting Process are covered in-depth here.

Please fill out the Incident Report here.
Use password ASIR2023 to access the form.

AS Health & Safety Team may request copies of any documentation regarding on-production accidents or incidents.

Anonymous Production Hotlines

First Aid

It is AS policy to hire a Medic or equivalent person whenever filming (on a stage, location, or distant location.) First Aid personnel must be assigned to all filming units to a level that meets the risk hazard. Additionally, First Aid personnel (e.g., medic, nurse) must be assigned to Construction, Rigging and Striking crews.

Any severe injuries requiring medical care should be recorded according to the Incidents & Injury policy above.

All illnesses and injuries must be reported on the daily Production Report identifying the basic details of the event without referencing names.

Firearms

Blank-firing firearms, real firearms, edged (e.g., knives), bladed weapons, piercing or projectile (e.g., arrows) weapons, and explosives may not be used on AS productions unless reviewed in advance by:

• AS Production Executive - for creative necessity, no alternatives are available.
• AS Health & Safety - for control measures and layers of defense.
• AS Risk Management - for insurance coverage confirmation.
• AS Legal - to determine compliance with local laws.

No Smoking / Vaping

AS prohibits smoking on set, stages, or in any buildings. Smoking is only allowed in observed, designated smoking areas.

Smoking for theatrical on camera purposes are an exception to this policy. (See Content Standards for additional requirements.)

Drones

Prod Co must notify AS H&S, AS Risk Management, AS Legal, and the AS Production Executive prior to using drones (including scouting). Prod Co must have licensed drone pilots, appropriate insurance and abide by any applicable local laws and regulations.

Aircraft/Watercraft

Consult AS Production Executive regarding the use of any aircraft and watercraft. AS H&S and AS Risk Management shall review all aircraft and watercraft proposed activities for approval prior to activity.

Production Counsel must review all Aircraft and Watercraft Agreements.

Infectious Disease & Hygiene

AS has learned a lot about how to better protect the physical health of cast & crew from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the health of cast & crew remains a top priority for Amazon Studios.

The below policy contains the 8 key mitigation measures that were successful during the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to be medically-relevant methods for preventing a wide range of common infectious diseases.

It is the production’s responsibility to abide by the below minimum standard protocols during all in-person activities – from writers’ rooms through post production. Where local public health and union variations may exist, follow the stricter requirements.

Any questions should be addressed to the Production Executive and studios-health-and-safety@amazon.com.

Key infectious disease prevention measures:

1. Face Masks – Production is required to make masks available for all cast & crew upon request.
   • Approved face masks include KN95, KF94, FFP2, 3-ply surgical mask with tightly woven single-ply cloth mask over top; reusable multi-layer cloth mask with nose wire for a snug fit. It is recommended that N95 or international equivalent masks only be used if the job function requires it and the individual has been medically cleared, fit tested and trained to wear them.
   • Hair, makeup, wardrobe & sound are strongly recommended to wear face masks while directly interacting with on-camera performers (within 3ft / 1m).
   • Face masks are recommended for symptomatic individuals as well as individuals who live with people who are confirmed positive for COVID-19, RSV or Influenza A&B.
   • Providing respirators on a voluntary basis is preferable when working in wildfire event where the current AQI for PM2.5 is equal to or greater than 151 but does not exceed 500. However, KN95, KF94, FFP2 may also be useful when working in wildfire conditions if respirators and fit-testing are unavailable. Please discuss with the Production Executive and Production Health & Safety before implementing a wildfire response plan on your production.
2. Health Monitoring – The following language must be added to all call sheets and schedules: “Do you have any new onset of symptoms? Notify the medic and your supervisor. Consider wearing a mask & staying home.”
3. Symptomatic Individual Reporting – Cast & crew who have a fever are not allowed to return to worksites until fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. For all other unusual states of health, isolation is not required, but the medic & production management must be notified.
   • Production may make rapid antigen / lateral flow self-tests available for symptomatic individuals in at-risk health groups (e.g., older adults; immunocompromised). However, COVID-19 tests (PCR & rapid antigen / later flow) may not be sensitive enough to recognize newer COVID-19 variants, and they should not be relied upon to confirm negativity to COVID-19 at this time.
4. Positive Test Reporting - All positive COVID-19, RSV and Influenza A&B tests must be reported to the medic and production management. Recommend that they consult with their personal physician.
   • Serious illness or injury that requires hospitalization as well as events that cause a delay to production must be reported in accordance with the Incident Criteria and Reporting Procedure.
   • Contact Tracing Support [California Productions Only] – Please see the attached contact tree for International SOS medical advisors who can provide contact tracing support in the event that an individual reports a positive COVID test. This contact tree should only be used for contact tracing purposes in order to meet California’s COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS).
     • Contact tracing is not required for other productions unless required in the local jurisdiction.
5. Paid Sick Leave – The availability of paid sick leave varies depending on the work location, applicable law, union and production company policy. Productions should be aware of paid sick leave requirements. If there are no local sick pay requirements, we encourage productions to have their own general sick pay policy.
6. Cleaning – Daily janitorial cleaning of communal restrooms as well as catering and craft services areas is required. Additionally, bi-weekly cleaning of other communal areas is required.
7. Dining – Hand washing or sanitation stations are required to be provided beside all catering, craft service and food truck vendors. Sneeze guards are recommended for all buffets.
8. Vaccines – A general vaccine clinic where cast & crew can be vaccinated against multiple local infectious diseases may be helpful for traveling shows and productions working in outbreak-prone areas. If you feel a vaccine clinic would be beneficial for your production, reach out to the Amazon Studios Production Executive and Studios-Health-and-Safety@amazon.com for guidance.

ISOS Location Risk Portal

AS productions around the world can now utilize internationalsos.com to learn about potential risks related to their specific production location(s). International SOS (ISOS) monitors hundreds of countries and cities for medical, security, and travel risks. They track diseases and offer advice on the appropriate vaccinations as well as health precautions that apply to production location(s).

Location Guides are available from the ISOS portal and include a Risk Summary, so you can quickly get the information you require at a glance.

Risk Ratings provide a clear visual indicator of the risk associated with visiting a specific country/region. The risks in countries are rated to indicate the standards of local medical care, the risk of serious infectious disease, and the security risk associated with travel to that country/region.

The Pandemic Site has additional information about infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness.

Attached are instructions on logging in and setting up a profile on the ISOS site, as well as a visual summary of how to search for information about specific locations.

Productions can utilize Amazon’s Membership ID# for login: 11BCPA000001. An Amazon or Originals Access email must be used to sign up in order to utilize this service. In case you need an Originals Access email id for your show please reach out to Chad Zemel at below id.

Please share this email with your productions, and reach out to Chad Zemel (chad.zemel@amazonstudios.com) if you have any additional questions about the portal.

Additional Production Resources

You can find more information on H&S resources, such as industry-wide safety guidelines (Safety Bulletins), incident reporting process, and the Anonymous Production Hotline in the Production Resources section.