Theatre Safety Blog: A high steel rigger fell to his death at the AT&T Center Arena while striking a show at 2:00 AM. Witnesses said he had detached himself from the fall safety line while repositioning himself and lost his footing while moving around a beam. A late load-out can be dangerous as fatigue can play a factor in clarity of thought and situational awareness.
10 comments:
This is very tragic accident that I do not want to see this happening anymore. I understand that theatrical area is very dangerous and unexpected, but this could have been prevented if he did not detach himself from the fall protection line. Also, looking at him working at 2 am, this seems to increase the hazard of accident because he might have been very fatigue. I think everyone who will work in this kind of area should be alerted about safety before getting into this area because even in CMU, teachers make sure that the safety becomes priority. Although it seems that there can be a suspension trauma, it is better than fall down and get injured or result in tragic accident. This news is very depressing and sad, but at the same time, this reminds me of importance of safety once again.
This is a very saddening article because with the proper pre-cautions, this sort of accident can be avoided. The article provides double safety solutions, but I bet they're more expensive than regular rigging carabiners and ropes. If the resources (a.k.a. money) were available for the production company to have these double safety devices, then they probably would have had them. This sort of incident comes down upon the production company for one, not providing the safest equipment possible and two, doing a high up load-out at 2 in the morning with minimal safety equipment. If they knew they didn't have the resources for very safe rigging, then they should have loaded those things rigged up high at a more reasonable time, and done the more "low risk" load out items (like stage based/stationary set pieces) at 2am instead.
This is an unfortunate incident but i feel this is a greatest example that accidents happen. Yes he could have had a dual safety line set up but he didn't. From the way this article reads, it sounds like an experienced rigger who slipped.
This is a reminder to everyone in this era of extra safety measures that accidents do happen regardless of how careful you may be.
The job of high steel riggers is one that I have been fascinated by, although my slight fear of large heights would prevent me from ever doing the work myself. As Sean said, accidents like this, while extremely tragic, can serve as a great reminder that accidents can happen even with the most experienced people, so safety should always be taken seriously. The dual-clip fall arrest system is something that I never thought of before, but it makes complete sense that it is the correct tool for the job.
This is tragic and makes me remember all of the safety guidelines of OSHA. 100 feet is so very high, that it hurts to think of how he felt as he was falling. I am sure that he probably did that many times while working at similar heights. He probably also knew that he shouldn't have been doing it, but thought that he would be okay. The options that the article suggests would have been a great aid for him.
Sad news!
It's unfortunate that something like this happened but like Sean and Dan said, accidents happen, and our society is incredibly more aware of that now than we ever were even 5-10, 15 and 20 years ago. It used to be that riggers would walk out along battens in their out-trims to release points or do something (during ins, outs and even shows)only using the pipes on either side of them for balance and safety... The double lanyards aren't exactly new, and there isn't much of a price difference between them or the standard single lifeline but they are much more versatile and yes could have certainly helped to save this mans life (assuming that he was properly harnessed to begin with and that nothing else went wrong).
I realize that this sounds rather heartless, but there's no easy way to discuss these incidents, regardless of how tragic they are. I feel for the man's family and hopefully it will push that venue/local/company to either maintain, stock or suggest the use of lanyards and other fall arrest equipment that might prevent another incident in the future.
And it goes without saying that it's incredibly unfortunate that something like this needed to happen in order to do so.
Stuff like this is just so sad and unfortunate. We keep hearing about these avoidable accidents over and over again. Im not really sure whos fault this is. The mans for not acting safely or the company for not providing the right equipment and for having him work so late. People dont often realize it at the time but you really do become impaired the same way you would be were you under some sort of influence when you stay up until stupid hours working. it is especially unsafe to be doing hazardous work so late. Safety is almost a terrifying subject at times since there is such an immense amount of things that can go wrong in so many different ways. It seems impossible that you could always be properly prepared for all of them.
This is awful and horrible. All I can think of is how sad it is and how certain occupation push themselves much harder then any other areas. I feel like the only way to counter this is to produce a culture that will take more time to do work. Until that moment there will always be someone to replace the gentleman rigger that lost his life. We will moan, OSHA will investigate, and some one else willing to live a over worked lifestyle will take his place. I pray for you gentlemen fighting exhaustion and fatigue to bring the world the next ridiculous rock show. Please Be Careful.
This tragic and dramatic incident is is a chilling reminder of the dangers of working at height, any height. While a fall from 100' is a stark example, and something all of us think we would do everything we could to avoid, so many of us ignore the much more commonplace and therefore insidious dangers of a fall from say 8'. According to OSHA, of the 721 construction related deaths in 2011, 35% were from a fall. That percentage holds for the roughly 150,000 job site injuries per year as well, and 3 of the top ten most cited workplace standard violations are associated with working at height: scaffolding, fall arrests, and ladders, all of which most of us use all the time without thinking about it. A good friend of mine took an 8' fall from a ladder over five years ago, replacing a fluorescent tube in a light over a concrete floor. He has made a lot of progress in his recovery, but he will never walk again the way he could before the fall. These are not just statistics. It's easy to shrug off the standards and guidelines that OSHA sets as paternalistic and over-the-top, and we think common sense is good enough to keep us safe in most cases. This may be true, but we all know how fleeting common sense can be at 4 a.m. with a dozen trucks to load and the steward breathing down your neck. More than statistics and standards, in my opinion it is routine that keeps a worker safe. When a worker can simply fall back on, "I wear my safety glasses because I ALWAYS do... I clip in because I ALWAYS do..." then there is less room for the inevitable tragic accidents that are truly unavoidable. When it comes down to it the only person who can really keep one safe at work is oneself. I know for a fact my friend will never stop re-living those few moments leading up to his decision to climb that ladder and reach out for that stupid fluorescent tube, and I go to work every day thinking of him and how pissed he would be at me if he ever finds himself at my hospital bed.
This article actually scars me a lot. The idea that we can really get badly hurt working in theatre is told to us often but it's easy to forget about the danger because most days everyone is fine. One of my biggest concerns about going in to theatre isn't that I'm going to became a staving artist, but rather that I am going to die on the job. It's really scary to me that what I do everyday can be that dangeris. The second half of the article where the writer writes about what could have been done differently to stop the tragic accident was very calming. I know that here at CMU we always use the right equipment to keep us safe. I hope that in the real world where I work we will use that equipment as well.
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