The
wire net which was under discussion was like a tensioned
wire grid, yes. The three falls that I know of into our pit were an audio crew member during a
bump-out, who trod on a piece of flooring which had been unscrewed, slipped as it moved underneath him and fell onto the net (old net - it broke his fall and stopped him hitting the floor), a breakdancing child who got a little too enthusiastic mid-show and tripped on his own feet, sending him onto the net (new net which did its job in that it caught him, and it didn't deflect anything like low enough to hit any of the musicians in the pit - he got up, unhurt, back onto the
stage and kept going), and a dancer who I believe came off a jump off-balance and staggered on landing, far enough to go into the pit (in the days before a net - this one is only what I've been told by people who witnessed it - the
orchestra was (luckily) on
stage for that one so the pit was empty, the dancer climbed out somehow and kept going). I think in any of those three situations a
wire net would have hurt quite significantly as none of them were controlled.
I should also have said that there were also concerns about the
current rigging points for the net (which were never going to be replaced) being enough for a
wire net - our net consultant said that they were designed and specified for the fibre net which has more "give" to it and therefore absorbs more of the
shock of the person landing on it - with a
wire net having less "give", he couldn't guarantee the rigging points would take that extra load. Our pit is at minimum 2.4m below front row
level 99% of the time, and the
stage is higher than that (I don't have measurements but I would guess probably close to another half-metre) so that's a good distance to fall.