Theatre Safety Blog: Following investigations into the stage canopy collapse at the Indiana State Fair on August 13th of last year, IOSHA has filed fines against the canopy provider Mid-America Sound Corporation, The IATSE Local 30 that provided labor to erect the stage, and the Indiana State Fair Commission, sponsors of the event.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Indiana OSHA Fines Three Entities
Theatre Safety Blog: Following investigations into the stage canopy collapse at the Indiana State Fair on August 13th of last year, IOSHA has filed fines against the canopy provider Mid-America Sound Corporation, The IATSE Local 30 that provided labor to erect the stage, and the Indiana State Fair Commission, sponsors of the event.
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7 comments:
It is really unfortunate that IATSE is being fined so heavily and the State Fair Commission hardly had a fine at all. Just because the people killed and severely injured were not regular fair staff does not mean they do not hold responsibility. The members of Local 30 were hired by the State Fair, so the State Fair did have employees killed and injured from the incident. The article mentions the delicacy of the relationship between two state agencies, but a state agency of this nature should hold no more power than any other firm. Maybe when the rest of the case is looked at the State Fair Commission will be fined appropriately.
Meg has a point, it is disappointing to see IATSE taking a hit for this incident. Anyone who has worked with or through IATSE knows just what they do for stagehands and have always closely worked with and protected us. As for MAS getting fined its nice to see IOSHA going after a real cause for the failure. As far as my understanding the iniana state fair incident was cause by an improperly erected to stage that was preemptively designed for possible weather conditions and IOSHA is going attempting to go after who failed to accommodate. its good to see some progress but for the sake of those who were injured and their families i hope this whole situation comes to a close soon
Sean - most reports (and there have been dozens of related posts on this blog) indicate that the real problem is that the event wasn't called, and that the weather event was so severe that a properly constructed stage would have collapsed.
As far as going after the IA, it is true that the state fair is the employer, but the IA dictates the methods and requirements for its members, so it should be responsible for its members' safety precautions. Whether or not it acted wrongly in this instance will hopefully be fairly determined as the case proceeds.
What I'm still having a hard time dealing with is the fact that the event wasn't cancelled when the State Fair Commission knew that such a severe storm was coming. This indicates to me that the State Fair Commission should be held more responsible and should be fined more heavily. The State Troopers obviously didn't expect the event to continue and it's a shame that it took them by surprise at the last minute so that they were unable to do anything. It seems like all of the deaths and injuries could have been prevented- so it makes sense that these agencies are being fined. They need to be seriously prompted to review their policies, and this is a good way to get their attention. I'm intrigued to see if IATSE gets around being held responsible. I agree with Daniel that IATSE is responsible for the on-the-job safety of their members and should have intervened when the possibility of a dangerous event became apparent.
It's interesting that since the IATSE union has been handling their union members in a certain way, that they have designated as an employer in this case. As the article notes, if this decision and fine is upheld, it probably will force many of the unions to change the way they operate in order to avoid being designated in this way in the future. Also, in this respect, it is frustrating to see the IATSE local being fined more than the State Fair Commission in this case, when it seems the fault lies more with the State Fair Commission and their failure to cancel the event in a timely manner, but there will be a fair bit more coming down the pipe for the State Fair Commission in terms of fines, and suits being pursued against them, and this seems a fairly preliminary measure and form of justice in heading farther through the legal process. The State Fair Commission will have more to answer for in due time, I would imagine.
The bureaucracy that investigates any sort of calamity typically does not know the subject matter or how that industry works as well as the insiders. We as insiders see that the union and the fair should both be held responsible for any failures on their parts but when someone dies in an accident we look for someone to blame and that may or may not be the party that was actually responsible.
I agree with everyone on this topic. MAS should be fined if they did have a failure to produce appropriate information to the riggers and installers of their equipment. They should also be fined if the structure was not adequately supported for outdoor use. Until findings are published, I feel and don't think the fines should be finalized. The State Fair commission should have cancelled an event and organized with Indiana State Troopers and other officials in order to have appropriate safety and security at their event. Although I always want to protect IA as a member of the theatrical world, depending on how local 30 operates should dictate how they are fined. They should be in charge of the safety of their "employees" as well as the State Fair Commission should be. Depending on who the employer is by legal and payroll documentation, although they may be a union, they might be the actual employer which we will see in hearing to follow and cannot deem anything until all findings are complete. Just for example, I might higher a contractor and pay them, but the large lump sum that I pay them is then divided up to their employers or people they get, and they are deemed the employers. Although this is different for unions we can only wait and see.
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