I've done two hanging effects in my career, and I was trained by the best. I didn't care for this
effect then, I still don't now.
Yes, there is a way to do this safely, and when done safely and correctly it is all an illusion. The noose does not bear any of the load, and in fact is not a functioning noose at all. Again, it is an illusion. When done correctly, you will actually spend exponentially more time demonstrating how the noose is built to fail, and demonstrating how the noose
does fail if loaded, than you will performing the actual illusion during rehearsals and shows.
I have my own thoughts on what happened, and how, to this actor. PM me if you'd like to discuss/speculate further; but I'm totally ok with not.
We say it here all the time, and I'm saying it again: anything involving weapons of any kind onstage requires professional specialists. Anything involving a person being suspended in any way requires professional specialists. If you don't hire the pros, you're putting a price on a singular, unique human life of only a few thousand dollars (because that's what it costs to hire us). If something goes wrong, do you want that on your mind? If you're thinking of doing it any other way, stop.