Arbor crash with pics from reddit

[TechGeek]

I worked in a high school in my area with no loading gallery... your school at least colored the weights that had to stay. The school I worked with you would take the weight off little at a time and check the line to see how out of weight it was. We tried to keep it down to around 7 people running the fly's, 2 lighting techs, 1 sound tech (hanging mics), 3 scenic artists/riggers, and the Stage Manager.

The high school I'm working with right now has locking Rope locks which only the facilities mangers have a key to. The most important sets get locked no matter what, like the Main Drape, electrics, and hanging mics. During shows and events when there is scenery rigged all of the line sets with scenery get locked as well. It keeps idiots out of trouble.

Someone could have gotten really hurt if not killed during this accident. You guys got very luck. This is why only people trained to use the fly should be near it.

 

[gafftaper]

Shouldn't everything have been shut down and dropped where it was for an investigation before further action was taken?

OSHAand most state laws only cover employee safety, students are typically not covered. Furthermore, since the only injuries were a skinned hand, it's unlikely that there would be any inspection unless the school district hired a company to do it. Which is unlikely in most school districts.

 

[StradivariusBone]

OSHAand most state laws only cover employee safety, students are typically not covered. Furthermore, since the only injuries were a skinned hand, it's unlikely that there would be any inspection unless the school district hired a company to do it. Which is unlikely in most school districts.

In my experience what could happen here is a parent or community member might react to the Reddit posting and then shoot an email up the chain somewhere, which would be gas on the fire. A lot of people in the public education field have a mindset that the "customer/parent is always right" and that frequently trumps a rational approach to a given situation.

Our school district has their own Safety to Life office and per insurance regs we would be required to fill out an accident report if something like this happens. Accident reports get filed anytime a student is injured (basically if it's at the point where they feel the need to see a doctor- splinters OK, stitches not OK). We do have students who are also employees, but I don't know specifically how OSHA pertains to them. I would assume the regs apply, but enforcement might be selective. I personally operate under the mindset that all kids working in my building (paid or not) deserve the safe environment that OSHA mandates.

I can't speak directly to the law or mandate, but I've heard time and time again that public schools have some sort of exemption from a lot of the fire code and OSHA regs that dictate how private industry operates. From what I've seen, we basically police ourselves on that stuff. I'm not saying that's the truth or law, but that's the attitude I've seen on numerous occasions.