Victorian D’Souza: Before site is chosen, we as safety officers check the set

Victorian D’Souza

Lockdown restrictions may have eased, but with the virus continuing to cause havoc across the world, the Guild established the need to have a COVID consultant on film sets, since shooting resumed in June. Safety compliance company Momentum India's Victorian D'Souza, who is currently working on a show for Disney Channel, walks us through a day in his life. "I am a health and safety officer. Prior to COVID, our job was to oversee health, sanitation, environment, safety and security of a movie set. We used to cater to hospitality and sports events primarily. IPL was a big client for us. Once COVID took over our lives, we branched out to other industries. Film sets employ us routinely to make sure safety norms are adhered to on sets. When we began in June, people were petrified. They didn't know how to function. Sometimes people would be so engrossed in work, they'd forget to wear their mask. It has required constant reminders to tell them wear a mask, sanitise every few minutes. Our sets also have UV machines that help sanitise the whole set. There are fumigation centres where we use safe-on-skin disinfectants. Gloves are encouraged. For artists, who are without masks, we make sure their staff are in PPE suits. ADs, who they interact with, are always in PPE suits," he says.

Giving us a lowdown of his daily routine, he says, "Before the site is chosen, we as safety officers check the set. The ceiling should be safe and shouldn't fall on the crew mid shoot. The electric work should be on point to avoid any short circuit during shoot. We don't allow anyone to shoot without a valid RT-PCR test. There is an oximeter on set and we check health vitals everyday. In case, someone is showing symptoms or has some discrepancies, we bar them from shooting. They are put in an isolation room which is mandatory for every shoot. We repeat the COVID test with them again and from there the doctor on set takes care of it. Doctors, paramedics and ambulances are stationed on set at all times. We sanitise the set twice daily. There is garbage separation. We provide masks, sanitisers and everything to the production."

A year of COVID later, D'Souza says people are now used to the norms. But amidst rising cases, his team is employing stricter measures. "In case there is someone who is constantly flagging rules, we report them to the production. There have been cases when they have been ousted from shoot. I usually have 6 people on set within any given point of time to man the whole set with precision."