The Flywire - Issue #37: If you own a circus/aerial arts studio, could your business survive financially if an accident occurred and you were faced with a two-million-dollar judgment? What about a 10-million-dollar judgment? Let’s be honest, there is a lot of potential for accidents and physical injuries in circus and aerial arts and US juries seem more and more inclined to award large judgments to the victims of accidents.
2 comments:
There was once a time when if you were injured at your workplace, the workplace was not always held accountable, even though it was their responsibility to take care of its employees. But as we have progressed in time, times are changing to a point where now not only are the companies held accountable for any mishap that their employee has to go through, the companies are also required to pay large damage costs to the employees, the cost of which might not always be justified.
Aerial and circus companies face this issue a lot more than other companies just because their work includes people being at dangerous heights and doing stunts which might go wrong, resulting in an injury for the employee and a large sum for the company.
That is why it is very important for these companies to ensure that they train their employees to the best of their abilities and provide the employees with the best equipment so that no employee is ever at the danger of getting injured.
In response to Reesha's comment: I think that the workplace is now given a protocol when there is a workplace injury but I don't know if companies are actually held accountable for. Due to budget cuts, OSHA rarely will visit sites to check on workers and workers have to self-advocate. Yes worker's compensation is now a more structured system and workplace safety is more valued but I think there is also a lot of negligence and the time for fighting for worker's protection is still ongoing.
In regards to the article: I find it interesting to hear that most instructors in aerial studios are sub-contractors. This makes sense because then the studio might not be liable in some cases but seems stupid for an instructor to agree to. It is like the company is leaving the staff that helps run their business out in the weeds. This article very unsurprisingly brought up the tip to make sure there is always a paper trail protecting a company. I think this is important in the case of these aerial studios but I think theatres, in general, need to take a hint and also make sure that they have extensive guidelines because small theatres could go down just like a studio.
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