Joint Statement with Pact on Broken Turnaround

After further pressure from the union, Pact, BBC, ITV and the PMA have issued a further statement about eliminating broken turnaround.

Breaking turnaround impacts workers’ ability to do their job safely and effectively. We know that the lack of sleep and subsequent exhaustion has already led to car crashes and near-misses. In addition, workplace conditions and the lack of rest can influence the onset and progress of mental health problems. For all of these reasons we will continue to work with the employers to explore how productions can introduce good planning and management to help eliminate broken turnaround.

We also continue to work closely with the Health and Safety Executive to monitor employers’ behaviour and encourage or enforce improvement when necessary. We will provide further details on this later this year.

In the meantime, don’t forget to use our short reporting form if you’ve been asked to break turnaround – every report helps us build a more accurate picture and demonstrate the scale of the problem, which will be critical in making progress on this issue. You can read the full statement here.

Bectu National Secretary Spencer Macdonald said:

“Breaking turnaround impacts workers’ ability to do their job safely and effectively. Reports to Bectu indicate that exhaustion, accidents and near-misses are all too common, as well as poor mental health for many film and TV workers.

“We know this is a huge issue for many of our members and it’s brilliant to have commitment from across the industry to address it.

“We will continue to work with employers to explore how productions can introduce good planning and management to help eliminate broken turnaround. The impact on film and TV workers’ wellbeing and personal lives is huge, and we are committed to taking action and improving terms and conditions including fighting to expand our collective bargaining coverage.”