gizmodo.com: A Twitch streamer says she broke her back in two places after jumping in a foam pit live at TwitchCon on Saturday. In a brutal video that’s painful to watch, streamer and adult performer Adriana Chechik happily jumps into the pit but then begins to writhe in pain almost immediately after she lands.
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This video was difficult to watch, I can't imagine how painful this was. Knowing I would jump into these pits as a child all the time and the fact that they are so common in convention like settings like this and indoor amusement parks makes me wonder if the risks are thoroughly considered. “The pit was full of foam blocks that, while a bit squishy, were quite firm, both outlets stated. Furthermore, the foam blocks were not equally spread out in the pit, with some areas being as shallow as two feet, or a little over half a meter, according to BuzzFeed News. Beneath the blocks, a mat covered the concrete floor at the venue.” This quote proves that safety was clearly not the top priority. The woman who hurt herself now needs to undergo serious procedures to heal, and I hope she makes a full recovery.
1. This is a really unfortunate situation for everyone involved in it. Clearly the people at Lenovo either are incompetent or Lenovo has not invested the money to hire people who are qualified to oversee these audience engagement events. Anything like this really needs a project manager overseeing things for safety. It is obvious that a foam mat and foam blocks is not enough protection between a person and a concrete floor, but they likely did not have anyone in charge of thinking about that sort of thing. It also really sucks that this is going to reflect poorly on Twitch as well considering they were not the ones to prepare this booth. I am sure they will think twice in the future about confirming with sponsors setting up booths that their ideas are safe and have the proper personnel involved. I hope the various injured parties recover swiftly and well.
I was on what I like to call “Twitchcon Twitter” this past weekend. I knew that this had happened right after the story had been released and I am actually surprised this made the greenpage. What also surprises me is that there were not worse injuries. Twitchcon was cutting corners throughout their whole convention but glossing over people’s safety must have been their biggest misstep. I am not sure who is to be held accountable for this: Twitchcon for having the foam pit in their vicinity, Lenovo for sponsoring it and setting it up, or both. The biggest question that comes to mind is that when someone else got hurt from jumping into the foam pit, why did they not shut it down? Something was clearly wrong because Adriana Checknik was not the only person harmed. I guess this is somewhat related to theater on the basis of proper construction, which this foam pit did not. All together this should have been avoided and Adriana should definitely get compensation.
Even as a child suffering through gymnastics class it was evident to me how dangerous their foam pits were. Lenovo and Twitch both acted in an incredibly irresponsibly way as they prioritized the aesthetic clickbait aspect of an installation over the safety of those interacting with it. This event follows a trend in the media where the safety of situations are often overlooked for views or a wow factor. The saying all publicity is good publicity is true in today's society and this event backs that saying up. This event strikes as different not only because of the severity of the injuries sustained but because it was two corporations Twitch and Lenovo that prioritized views over safety and proceed to keep the foam pit open even after many people sustained injuries
Theo
I saw this news story come across my social media when it first happened. I watched the video and before the incident even happened, I could immediately see why. I could see the floor through the foam cubes – that was an immediate red flag. As the diagram showed, a typical foam pit you’d find at a gym or trampoline park or literally anywhere else is usually at least six feet of cubes deep – with a trampoline at the bottom. If you only have one or two layers of cubes on top of a solid floor, and try to jump in – you are just going to go through the cubes and surprise surprise – hit the floor. Unless your bones are made of steel, the concrete floor is going to win. I am especially shocked that this booth was sponsored by Lenovo and potentially even Intel. This is a massive oversight that should never have been let slide. Granted, Lenovo probably just contracted the job out to a PR company, but it still has Lenovo’s name all over it. I feel terrible for the streamer who broke her back and to the others who got sprains and other injuries. Truly just shocking and disappointing.
I saw this pretty much as soon as it started blowing up online, and the biggest question on my mind was just "why was this allowed to happen?". And, I'm sorry to say, I'm not at all surprised that none of the three major corporations listed in the article are actually taking responsibility for this incident. Sure, I doubt any of the companies actually had their hands in the design of this booth or setup, but ultimately, the responsibility falls with them. They are the ones who put their branding all over the booth, and if nothing bad happened and it brought them good press, they would be all too happy to take credit for it. The second anything bad happens, they pull back immediately, leaving the victims without help or explanation. Why do these big conventions not seem to have a safety officer or team? Even if they do, why the hell isn't stuff like this being caught before someone has to suffer life-altering injuries? It just goes to show that safety has to always be the biggest priority, even when it might cut into the profits of these big corporations that already make millions upon millions of dollars (cue the sad violin music).
I definitely saw this story right when it happened and have seen quite a few updates since and it is extremely complex and disturbing. The fact that none of the companies have commented on the situation says to me that they are gearing up for a lawsuit and I do hope that she sues them. Although people may have been told not to “dive” into the pit, she did not dive, she jumped. According to typical pool etiquette, she would not have been asked to leave by the lifeguard. I have read elsewhere that participants were forced to sign waivers to go in the pit which says to me that they knew it was unsafe and they hoped that waivers would deter potential lawsuits. According to what I have read, all the people who were hurt are still able to sue whether or not they signed a waiver because it does not release the companies from liability if they created an unsafe foam pit.
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