Electrician falls in West Palm Beach Florida

Well this story ought to be enough to make everyone mad. There was a similar death in Vegas back in May of 2009 at the MGM. A stagehand fell off a platform with no hand rails. As you read above in this thread, in Florida an Electrician fell off a platform with no hand rails too.
-In Vegas the Venue paid a fine of $19,800.
-In Florida the venue paid a fine of $3675.
Are lives less valuable in Florida?

$19,800.... REALLY? The MGM was originally fined $38,700 but it was reduced to $19,800. $19,800... They give away that much on free cocktails every few hours. They have rooms that cost more than that per night! They'll loose a lot more than that on one hand of black jack in the high roller room. $19,800... I hope MGM can survive the fine.

The fine for the outside staging company was lowered because of the size of the company? A GUY DIED! It doesn't matter how big or small your business is. If you get an employee killed you need to seriously rethink your procedures. $4,000... You College students could pick up a nice late 90's used Honda Civic for that, makes a great college car.

A friend in Vegas tells me that the guy who fell violated a direct order to not go up on that catwalk. That isn't mentioned anywhere in the story. Maybe that's part of the reason the fines were reduced, but it still doesn't make any sense. There was mention of him wearing a harness incorrectly. I don't think the guy in Florida was wearing a harness at all. While this may seem inconsistent with the rest of my rant, remember you need to be properly trained and use your harness. While the employer needs to provide a safe working environment, we are all responsible for making choices that are safe on the job.

Finally what's up with this statement in the article:

...the entertainment industry, which has grown more sophisticated with technologies that present new workplace hazards.

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Technologies present new hazards? Gravity pretty much always works the same way. If anything our industry has gotten safer as fall protection has spread throughout the industry. 20 years ago there were a lot more falls due to the rare use of harnesses. The addition of moving heads, LED's, and more video projection haven't made falling from catwalks without handrails any more dangerous.

And how about the preceding portion of that quote:

Coffield [Steve Coffield, head of Nevada OSHA] said it is legally difficult to apply Nevada's safety regulations -- which are geared more to construction sites -- to the entertainment industry..


Nevada Law: CHAPTER 618 - OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

"NRS 618.015 Purpose of chapter.
1. It is the purpose of this chapter to provide safe and healthful working conditions for every employee by:
(a) Establishing regulations;
(b) Effectively enforcing such regulations;
(c) Educating and training employees; and
(d) Establishing reporting procedures for job-related accidents and illnesses.
2. The Legislature finds that such safety and health in employment is a matter greatly affecting the public interest of this State."


OSHA at the federal level (and I assume the state level) is notoriously underfunded; I could understand a regulator claiming that there is a lack of funding for enforcement. But to say it is “legally difficult” to apply a law with such broad coverage [“..every employee..”]? I’m hoping that it’s just lousy reporting.



Joe

Posts discussing scissor lifts have been moved to the thread: Scissor lifts and fall protection?.

We now have a "conclusion" but we don't exactly have closure in the 2009 death of Vincente Rodriguez at MGM in 2009. How sad, the whole thing stinks.

Read on.

gafftaper said:

This just in from the PLSN news:
<table class="contentdesc"> </table> Judging from the fact they have a show opening Friday, he was apparently doing some late changes to the lighting as the show completes it's dress rehearsals. Something we've all done 100 times.

As always, the thoughts and prayers of CB's community go out to the friends and family of our lost brothers.

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Nearly 5 years later, I find this and just want to say thank you for all the kind words and thoughts.

We've been working for the past 4 years to keep Andy's legacy alive through education, scholarship funds at his alma maters, FAU and PBSC. It's become increasingly difficult to fund and market fundraising concerts and events, and so an online campaign was founded at: http://www.gofundme.com/RememberFenton

We're only asking for people to get the word out...about this amazing young man gone too soon and the legacy we're trying to continue through education. More info can even be found here: http://thefentonfoundation.wix.com/info. Though getting the word out is key, donations are even more amazing. Ideally we just want the world to know and remember Fenton "Andy" Holingsworth for generations to come.

Again, thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and time.

The Hollingsworth family

TheFentonFoundation said:

Nearly 5 years later, I find this and just want to say thank you for all the kind words and thoughts.
We've been working for the past 4 years to keep Andy's legacy alive through education, scholarship funds at his alma maters, FAU and PBSC. It's become increasingly difficult to fund and market fundraising concerts and events, and so an online campaign was founded at: http://www.gofundme.com/RememberFenton
We're only asking for people to get the word out...about this amazing young man gone too soon and the legacy we're trying to continue through education. More info can even be found here: http://thefentonfoundation.wix.com/info. Though getting the word out is key, donations are even more amazing. Ideally we just want the world to know and remember Fenton "Andy" Holingsworth for generations to come.
Again, thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and time.
The Hollingsworth family

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Welcome, we are glad that you found us at last. We work hard to try to keep people safe around here and it's tragic what your family and friends have been through. It's my hope that reading about Andy's tragedy has caused the rest of us in the industry to stop and think a few seconds about our own safety.

There are two groups I would like you to know about. Perhaps there is a way you can support them, in their messages or perhaps they can support you. First of all there is Behind the Scenes. BTS is an organization dedicated to providing grants to stage technicians or their loved ones to pay for everything from medical bills to funeral expenses. It's a wonderful group of people helping our brothers and sisters out when they get injured. Secondly there is The Event Safety Alliance. The ESA is a fairly new organization focused on improving the safety of Technicians, Performers, and the Audience in all types of performance settings. They have a strong message of breaking through the old "the show must go on code" to think about the safety before anything else.

God bless you and your foundation.