CMU School of Drama


Sunday, September 07, 2008

Beerfest kickoff marred by post-event accident, 20 hurt

INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos: "The Oktoberfest beer party in Ortigas Friday night ended with a bang but downed 20 crewmen soon after following an accidental electrocution as workers dismantled the stages and barricades that had enclosed the concert area."

13 comments:

Aaron S said...

This is not the first accident of the type in recent memory, and it probably wont be the last either. Yes it is dangerous to do work near power lines and should be avoided whenever possible, but accidents do happen. I think we as an industry should be looking at ways to isolate workers from conducting electricity in these types of situations. The path of least resistance should be designed to go into the ground without going through the workers. Maybe this means tying a grounding stake to main tent poles, and giving the workers rubber isolated gloves to ensure they cannot be electrocuted. Yeah, it will cost more and take longer, but what price can you put on a human life?

Anonymous said...

What a scary experience to have. I think Aaron is right to think that we should be looking to find ways of prevention rather than tip-toeing around dangerous situations. The industry takes precautions, sometimes seen as unnecessary or a hassle, mostly because of out-there situations like these. I think electrocution prevention systems will be seen more in the coming years, perhaps as part of a new wave of safety in the work place. Once we could do with just a hard hat. Now: full rubber insulated,electricity disbursing jumpsuits.

dmxwidget said...

One would think that an established company would have checked the area more closely before starting to work in the area. It seems like a shock to everyone working on the project, and I am sure that they will be looking into different was to avoid this happening again. I do recall hearing other accidents similar to this in the past. I guess there is a need to have companies re-evaluate procedures for working next to power lines, or any area that presents a risk to the employees.

Derek said...

Yeah, we should all be safe, but it is the entertainment industry. Don't forget how crazy, illegal, and dangerous this industry is. And when you have a bunch of guys off the street, with only 3 guys from the company or show working, its kind of hard to keep the locals from just working and grabbing what they can. I mean lets not forget how backwards we may have done things in high school, or in random summer work. I mean the deaf show was made of mdf and 1x3.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes things just happen. It really sucks that even with their 'precautionary measures', a lot of people got hurt doing something that should have been accounted for, or at least better watched. But I guess when you have a lot of guys working together that might not normally, accidents are more likely to happen. It just sucks that such a great event had to be marred by such a sad accident.

Anonymous said...

I find it pretty disgusting that StageTek is trying to wash their hands of this, saying that nothing could have been done and that it was a freak accident. I feel like there's always ways to make the workplace safer. Maybe this was a really short changeover, and the guys were rushing, maybe there was just a lack of safety training.

Or it's just possible they were drunk..

Isabella said...

This article is interesting because during these first few weeks of class it is easy catch people's attention wavering as we discuss safety for what seems like endless hours, in relation to every possible subject. However, reading about accidents like this reinforces the importance of having all the possible safety knowledge we can so that we may be able to take precautions and reduce the chances of an accident happening, while keeping in mind that, like mentioned in the article. sometimes even the best laid out plans could still have accidents.

Isabella said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
NorthSide said...

What's crazy scary about this story is the actual blind trust we put in our crew heads. You'd think someone is charge would be wiser about this decision but apparently it was ignored. It just goes to show we have to be educated followers as well so we know where the path leads us.

BWard said...

Stagetek may have been putting up and taking down tents for years, but that doesn't mean the workers for that event were all that experienced. It also leads me to think, how focused on the job was the crew? They were strking an event called Beerfest - it was likely a late night at the end of a long day... Not implying thay the crew wasn't entirely sober, but at the very least tired and distracted, eager to be off for the night.

aquacompass said...

Its sort of frightening how many of these reports have been coming out of the industry recently. Several stages collapsed this summer due to improperly lashed and secured roofs, a floor collapsed in a concert venue injuring hundreds, scaffold towers have collapsed, etc.

Yes, accidents happen, and we should not blame any one person in particular, but the frequency and avoid-ability of some of these accidents is startling. The "quality control" aspect of safety differs tremendously from production company to production company, rigger to rigger, etc. What attempts are being made to standardize safety throughout the industry aside from the ETCP system?

Anonymous said...

Is it just me, or is it obvious that you shouldn't have a metal tent next to a high power line? In the rain! With beer. I wonder if the person that decided to take the wet steal apart with twenty guys on it was drunk? Maybe they'll start selling truss dipped into that stuff you coat tool handles in so shit stops arcing. Then when something fails because they couldn't see a defect on a piece of truss, they'll make the entire thing covered in Nerf (tm).

Anonymous said...

Agree with bward. Beerfest + tent + electricity = no fun. Derek brings up a good point to in that when your working local events, you don't need to bring in the most knowledgable people get the job done. Hell half the time some tent rental agencies, show up, drop off the tent, then come back later to load it up using event staff, in whatever condition, however strong, etc. they may be. So even if your the tent guy, your crew could a bunch of people you just ment who might not all be there upstairs if you know what i mean.