A stage hand for an award-winning London theatre company was left paralysed after walking through an unmarked “Juliet” door and tumbling 10ft onto the stage below.
Rachael Presdee, 38, spent six months in hospital and was left paraplegic following the accident at Soho Theatre in central London, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
6 comments:
Far too often do we as people of the theatre industry find ourselves in moments of recognition of a safety hazard and pass such hazards off due to the us convincing ourselves that "it will be fine." Later when something goes wrong; far too often we treat it as a moment of luck and jest because "it could have been worse." This incident is a reminder that theatre is a dangerous place to work by nature. We try to recreate the fantastical as a spectacle for audiences based on the ideas of designers imagination. Truly no debate, this incident should have been prevented. As this article address's, someone did attempt to rectify the unsafe conditions of the trap door but plights were ignored. People working in our industry that are not in the position to make changes directly are often intimidated out of doing things safely and this practice disgusts me. When you are working in any industry you have to think about yourself first because absolutely nobody else will care about your safety more then you will. If you point out something that is unsafe, remember what it was and before you go near it again check it and make sure that the appropriate steps where taken. You can not be afraid to repeat yourself, and if the company or whom ever is in charge of that particular issue refuses to do so then you should not hesitate to refuse to work. I personally try to do things as safely as possible, now I do at times attempt what seems to be crazy techniques from time to time but I know how to do them as safely as possible. If I climb a truss to fix a light, I will happily monkey up the truss but I am going to do it in full harness. I introduce my crew with two notions " I will always ask you but I will never say please" and " I will never ask you to do something I wouldn't do, I am also a little crazy so if you are uncomfortable doing something do not hesitate to do so." It is just a show, it is not worth someone's ability to walk.
I can't say that I know a lot about safety protocols in the theatre industry yet, but something about this entire situation just seems wrong. As it is stated in the article numerous times, this is something that could have been avoided. But as Sean mentions, we often go to the phrase of "it could have been worse". That's true but this woman is still damaged, physically and emotionally for the rest of her life. I think it is peculiar that although it was probably not the full statement of the theatre in the article, nowhere does it state that they will in the future make sure that nothing like this happens again.
This makes me so angry. To have your career and lifestyle completely truncated by something as simple as not having a door locked seems insane to me. I think there should always be safety markers on anything that at anytime could be hazardous. For example, when things are being built up high, hard hats and signs signifying overhead danger are always put up, so why not a falling hazard sign at least? These kinds of incidents make me beyond angry and leave me in disbelief.
It is fascinating to me that the theater industry continues to show the same level of negligence despite the steady stream of stories we hear about people getting maimed or worse. So often working on crews, you will hear someone point out a safety hazard, but despite being privy to it, doing nothing to mitigate the danger. All it would have taken to make that door safe was a sign and a lock, but instead of fixing the problem after it was pointed out the first time, this theater chose to ignore the danger. I wonder what it will take for the theater industry to acknowledge the multitude of safety issues present for theater artist and do something to fix them, because clearly the wealth of deaths and injuries aren't enough.
So much about this story is so awful. Not only is this woman never going to be able to work again, she's never going to even be able to walk. This situation could cause this theatre to close completely, and while it is always tragic when a theatre closes, I think maybe in this situation it's justified. Clearly there were serious issues with safety and communication, along with a total disregard for basic common sense. I hope that those who were responsible for this terrible oversight recognize that they have not only ruined this woman's life but have seriously harmed everyone else that will be affected by the fallout from this event (if the theater does close, everyone who worked there is going to lose their jobs and source of income, in an industry where jobs are very hard to come by.)
This is terrible. I read about the collapse in South Korea last week, and I'm really surprised that this happened in London. I feel horrible for this woman. Like Sarah said, she not only will be unable to work, but also unable to walk. It's unfortunate, but it's also pathetic. People should know to mark trap doors and make sure they aren't left unlocked and unattended. I had hoped after reading about the tragedy last week that safety procedures about traps, grates, etc. would be fixed and more carefully inspected, but this makes me second guess whether or not people are paying attention to what is happening in the world and checking themselves before they wreck themselves and their employees.
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