Alternet: A Paris theatre's technical director died of a heart attack overnight after a malfunctioning power tool set off an explosion at the theatre, investigators said Saturday.
Marcus Toledano, 41, died in hospital, police said, adding that his heart had stopped when rescue workers arrived on the scene Friday evening.
11 comments:
After reading the other article posted about this event I was wondering how there could be an accidental explosion in a theater and although this article is more clear about how it happened, I'm still left a couple questions. First, how could a circ saw blade break away? That sounds like either improper usage or lack of maintenance to me. Secondly, I don't really see how a runaway blade could set off fireworks. Maybe it hit something metal nearby and caused a spark but then again I don't really know much about fireworks. Maybe the impact was enough to set them off. Certainly this will raise questions about the safe storage of pyrotechnics and use of tools around them. Hopefully this kind of accident can be avoided in the future.
This is some serious bad luck, poor man! I think this accident just goes to show to how important it is to properly store items such as fireworks. Power tools, and really anything that could possibly cause a spark should clearly not be near exploding objects. Something like 100 fireworks should be kept in a sort of case that can not be penetrated by a spark or just far, far away from people; somewhere like a storage unit or basement where people do not ordinarily work. I am surprised there aren't laws about storing fireworks.
This article raises come serious questions. First and foremost why were the fireworks not being stored in some type of locked fireproof container. I imagine there must be some type of strict policy for the handling and storage of any explosives to be used on stage? My second question is like Simone pointed out, how could you be stupid enough to do anything that may cause a spark, near explosives? It's sad that the man lost his life because of this, but its just another example of people making careless mistakes leading to tragedy. I start to gain concern that if they cant handle the fireworks and store them properly, then how can they be using them onstage safely?
Wow! That is unfortunate for the man who had the heart attack. But agree with what the others said. How did the blade break and set off fireworks? Why were the fireworks in the open? Why were they open in the shop? Yes, they may have needed to use them soon, but a minute or so of extra work removing them from a protective case would have definitely been worth it. I'm also just curious, can fireworks even be used indoors?
"caused when the disc of a circular power saw broke away and ignited fireworks stored nearby" Really? Why are fireworks stored next to a running circular saw? This wasn't bad luck, it was poor practice. Flammables should be placed in a locked flammable storage. This should go double for explosives. Also, a circular saw blade braking away is NOT a normal thing. It seems to me like the enter theatre should undergo some sort of inspection for work safety practices.
This is so sad. I agree with Feldsberg, the explosives were definitely in the WRONG place. I can't really imagine what actually happened though, I've never heard of a blade flying off. I can't imagine how that set off the fireworks either. I wonder if there was some other cause that they haven't found yet? This theater really needs to rethink their storage and safety regulations.
This is really unfortunate. I find sometimes that we are always really quick to judge and criticize, however we all make mistakes. Some may result in small errors or LARGE problems like this. From that article I still don't understand the specifics of what occurred, but it is very sad that this happened and everyone involved must be traumatized.
Really? why were the fireworks stored near these tools? no matter what you are doing or when you need those fireworks unless the guy sat the box down to scratch his nose there was absolutely no need for the fireworks to be stored so close to working power tools. It is unfortunate for the loss of the technician but still. We follow fire safety codes for a reason and there is no excuse for a box of fireworks to be just sitting there where such an incident can occur.
This article raises a lot of questions about what could have been done to prevent this terrible accident. Of course, most of it seem like just bad luck. The chances of the saw blade breaking, and then setting off fireworks are, I would assume, slim to none. However, people being less careful backstage as a show goes on is something that I've seen often. I'm sure there was a protocol for dealing with the fireworks on a day to day basis and I doubt having power tools that close to them was apart of it. Hopefully, this accident will prompt people to be more cognizant in the future.
This is awful! Of course it's terrible, terrible luck and the chances of this happening were very low, but it still goes to show that people have to take every safety precaution possible in order to ensure a safe work space. You never know what sort of crazy thing could happen. This article also reminds us of how dangerous this line of work can be and how amazing it is that there are so many talented people able to do this job every day.
It is always so sad to read such an article.
There seems to be a lot of questions though surrounding this incident. Like, how did the saw blade break awake? Was it a technical malfunction or lack of maintenance.
And how were the fireworks so easily set off.
I think that it is important that such incidents are publicly discussed so that other theater professionals can learn from them and not make the same mistakes.
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