Pegasus Contemporary Ballet Safe Workplace Policy

Purpose

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet (PCB) takes pride in its practices to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of all its employees, contractors, volunteers, vendors, and stakeholders. This document provides the standards the company expects its employees to adhere to.

General Safety Rules

PCB employees perform a wide range of functions in various capacities. Although some safety rules apply only to specific positions, all employees are expected to comply with the rules in this procedure:

  • Use common sense in performing duties.
  • Report any work injury or illness to the Artistic Director.
  • Report unsafe conditions or situations to the Artistic Director or Artistic staff.
  • Do not use any equipment, vehicles, or materials when or under the influence of any substance that may affect judgment.
  • Keep the work area neat and tidy.
  • Use mechanical devices or request assistance in lifting heavy loads.
  • Be sure that aisles or exits are kept clear; do not allow cords to interfere with walkways.
  • Use step-stools, platforms, or ladders for climbing. Never use chairs. Ask for a spotter when using ladders over 5 feet high.

Improper Health and Safety Practices

All employees are expected to abide by safe work practices and adhere to general safety rules to ensure their safety as well as the safety of co-workers. Employees engaging in unsafe practices may be disciplined or terminated based on the following factors:

  • The severity of the infraction.
  • Whether the infraction endangered only the employee or also co-workers.
  • Whether the infraction was a first or repeat violation.

Emergency management

Because we use rented performance and rehearsal space, we employ emergency management plans defined by the building owners and operators including, but not limited to – fire, tornadoes, or severe weather.

Armed Intruder / Active Shooter

If this extremely dangerous situation develops or appears to be developing TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY:

  • Do not confront or attempt to reason with the individual.
  • If a safe passage is available, leave the area immediately.
  • If you are unable to safely leave the building, seek shelter in a nearby room that is capable of being locked from the inside, assisting others if possible. Remain quiet and hidden, until authorities give an “ALL CLEAR.”
  • Call 911 as soon as it is safely possible.

Abusive Patron, Walk-in, Vendor, Volunteer or other Individual

If confronted with an angry or threatening individual whether a person off the street, a patron, vendor, or volunteer, do not engage directly. If in a public area, seek assistance from others nearby to alert senior staff or call 911. If a patron or other individual accosts you during a performance, do not engage, back away and signal senior staff nearby to assist in managing the situation. If you are physically attacked in any way, it will be considered assault and the perpetrator is subject to arrest and prosecution.

Emergency Evacuation Plans and Re-Entry

In any emergency, employees should follow alarms or other alerts to evacuate the building or area near the premises. Employees should always follow the evacuation procedures posted by the facility; and remember that personal safety is paramount and takes precedence.

The Artistic Director will coordinate with fire, police, or other emergency preparedness personnel to determine when the building may be re-entered.

On-the-Job Injuries and Illnesses

Any job-related injury or illness, regardless of severity, must be reported immediately to the Artistic Director for prompt and trained evaluation and medical attention as necessary. The Artistic Director will complete an initial safety incident report.

Medical Emergencies: Heart attacks, Loss of Blood, and Other Injuries

  • If an employee becomes aware of someone in physical distress, they should immediately call 911.
  • If trained to provide first aid, they should do so while calling for help.
  • If not trained in first aid, they should stay with the injured party and call for help.

Confidentiality and data protection

We want to ensure that private information about clients, employees, partners, and our company is well protected. Examples of confidential information are:

  • Employee records
  • Unpublished financial information
  • Data of customers/patrons/partners/vendors
  • Patron and Donor lists (existing and prospective)
  • Unpublished goals, forecasts, and initiatives marked as confidential

We expect everyone to act responsibly when handling confidential information.

You must:

  • Maintain company information in trusted confidence
  • Maintain information about peers and colleagues in trusted confidence.
  • Keep proprietary company information confidential.

You must not:

  • Use confidential information for your personal benefit or profit.
  • Disclose confidential information to anyone outside of our company.
  • Replicate confidential documents and files without permission.

This policy is important for our company’s legality and reputation. We will terminate any employee who breaches our confidentiality guidelines for personal profit. We may also discipline any unintentional breach of this policy depending on its frequency and seriousness. We will terminate employees who repeatedly disregard this policy, even when they do so unintentionally.

Harassment and violence

To build a happy and productive workplace, we need everyone to treat others well and help them feel safe. Each of us should do our part to prevent harassment and workplace violence.

Harassment in any form (as defined below) will not be tolerated and will be dealt with in accordance with the responses described in “Harassment Response” paragraph.

Workplace harassment

Harassment is a broad term and may include seemingly harmless actions, like gossip. The following are some instances that we consider harassment:

  • Sabotaging someone’s work on purpose.
  • Engaging in frequent or unwanted advances of any nature.
  • Commenting derogatorily on a person’s ethnic heritage or religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
  • Starting or spreading rumors about a person’s personal life.
  • Ridiculing someone in front of others.

Sexual harassment

  • According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), sexual harassment is described as follows:
    It is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of that person’s sex [sic]. Harassment can include “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.
  • Harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature, however, and can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex [sic]. For example, it is illegal to harass a woman by making offensive comments about women in general.
  • Both victim and the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and the victim and harasser can be the same sex [sic].
  • Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).
  • The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer.

Harassment in a broader sense also includes, but is not limited to:

  • Inappropriate or insulting remarks, gestures, jokes, or innuendoes, or taunting about a person’s gender, gender identity, sexual identity, racial or ethnic background, color, place of birth, citizenship, ancestry, creed, or ability;
  • Persistent unwanted questions or comments about a participant’s private life outside the boundaries of consent;
  • Posting or displaying materials, articles, graffiti, and so on, which may cause humiliation, offense, or embarrassment on prohibited grounds that are outside the parameters of the production. A production about pornography, violence, or racism may involve such images in the rehearsal space or in a dramaturgy packet, but such images are not appropriate for open display in office spaces, bathrooms, or other similar spaces.

Harassment Response

Reporting Harassment

If you’re being harassed, whether by a colleague, customer, or vendor, you can choose to report this situation to any of these people:

  • Offenders. If you suspect that an offender doesn’t realize they are guilty of harassment, you could talk to them directly to resolve the harassment. This tactic is appropriate for cases of minor harassment (e.g. inappropriate jokes between colleagues.) Avoid using this approach with customers or stakeholders.
  • Artistic Director. If customers, stakeholders, or team members are involved in your claim, you may reach out to the Artistic Director who will assess your situation. Feel free to reach out to the Artistic Director in any case of harassment no matter how minor it may seem. For your safety, contact them as soon as possible in cases of serious harassment (e.g. sexual advances) or if your supervisor or superior is involved in your claim. Anything you disclose will remain confidential.
  • Board of Directors. If you do not feel that your situation has been adequately resolved by the Artistic Director, you may escalate your complaint to any member of the board.

Management Actions

If it is determined that an employee is engaging in harassing behaviors, management will determine the severity of the harassment and:

a) Formally reprimand the harasser, setting clear identification of the behavior that is prohibited
b) Clearly state that repeating the harassing behavior will lead to termination
c) Terminate any employee who fails to stop the offending behavior
d) If the level of severity is found to be high, management and the Board may opt for immediate termination

Workplace violence

Violence in our workplace includes physical and sexual assault, destruction of property, threats to harm a person or property, and verbal and psychological abuse. We want to avoid those incidents altogether, but we also want to be ready to respond if needed. For this reason, we ask you to:

  • Report to the Artistic Director if you suspect or know that someone is being violent. Your report will be confidential, and we will investigate the situation with discretion.
  • Call emergency services if you witness incidents of severe physical violence (e.g. ones that involve a lethal weapon.) For your safety, avoid getting involved.
  • We will treat employees who verbally threaten others as high risk and they will receive an appropriate penalty. If the Artistic Director finds that an employee commits an act of violence, we will terminate that employee and consider pursuing criminal charges.
    Our workplace is founded on mutual respect and we won’t allow anyone to compromise this foundation.

Smoking

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet is a strictly smoke-free workplace. You can smoke in designated smoking areas outside of the building if such areas are available at the venue where we are working.

Drug-free workplace

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet is a drug-free workplace. Whether you are an employee, contractor, or visitor, you must not bring, use, give away, or sell any illegal drugs on the premises. If you are caught with illegal drugs or show that you are under the influence of mind-altering substances, you will face disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Alcohol

We prohibit employees from consuming alcohol during working hours but employees may consume alcoholic drinks in moderation at company events.

Prescription drugs

If you feel that a prescription drug (e.g. an anxiety medication) unexpectedly affects your senses, thinking, or movement, ask for the rest of your day off. If we suspect substance abuse, you may face disciplinary action.

We expect dancers, choreographers, musicians, and other artists to be fully alert and capable of performing their duties at all times. We may terminate you if we conclude your prescription drug use creates a severe safety risk to you or others.

Dealing with addiction

Being sober is a prerequisite to thriving at our company. We won’t tolerate substance addiction that results in violent, offensive, unsafe, or inappropriate behavior. Please contact the Artistic Director as soon as possible if you may be struggling with addiction.