Safety Regulations: The Indiana Stage Collapse

Posted: Thursday, September 1, 2011 by Damian De Luca in Labels: , , , ,
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As I stated in previous posts, our industry is renowned for institutionalized collaboration through which the quality of live entertainment is persistently making progress.  Over the last three decades, the excitement and delight we are able to trigger in spectators has encouraged us to improve our standards and design productions of the highest order. Nevertheless, certain entities that play a fundamental role in the maturation process of the trade are not necessarily focused on enthralling audiences. Instead, one of their biggest concerns is safety. Undoubtedly, the live entertainment industry needs a highly trained workforce exceptionally proficient in safety matters. Understanding and mastering safety has been always a top priority. Trade organizations such as PLASA are actively involved in developing and promoting safe conditions year after year. Since producers and artists of our community are profoundly passionate about entertaining large audiences at outdoor venues, the need for responsible decisions regarding safety measures is something that we seriously recommend. With that in mind, it grieves me to think of the loss of life that occurred when an outdoor stage collapsed in Indianapolis a few weeks ago.
Matt Kryger/Indianapolis Star/Associated Press
The tragic collapse that happened at the Indiana State Fair claimed the lives of 6 people and injured 40 out of the 12,000 attendees. Minutes before country music group Sugarland was supposed to appear on stage, a high blast of wind that probably reached 60 mph blew over the roof and metal scaffolding onto the crowd.
As anticipated by many, the first wrongful death suits have been filed with Tammy VanDam's being the most prominent. The lawsuit was filed against Mid-America Sound Corp., Lucas Entertainment Group and Live Nation, seeking around $50 million in damages, including the emotional distress that her 17-year-old daughter is undergoing for the loss of her mother's guidance. In addition, VanDam’s partner Beth Urschel has filed a second lawsuit seeking $10 million for the injuries she suffered during the tragedy.
With the purpose of avoiding tedious litigation, Attorney General Greg Zoeller alleged that the state of Indiana is prepared to pay the maximum amount allowed by law to the victims of the tragedy. Surprisingly, Indiana’s law limits the state's liability in accidents at $700,000 per person and $5 million total per event. Specialists in personal-injury matters agree that the amount is too low, especially considering the number of victims. For that reason, negligence lawsuits against the designer and builder of the stage and the concert promoter are likely to arise. However, it is important to understand that the causes that originated the accident are not clearly defined yet. It might take months of thorough investigations to determine if there were structural issues or lack of preparedness and response by the authorities of the event.
Regardless of what the court will decide after the interpretation of evidence, the tragedy should be analyzed as an alarm for the industry, especially regarding safety regulations. Even though the PLASA Rigging Working Group has been successfully working on new standards such as the E1.21 to address all temporary structures for technical production of outdoor entertainment events, the use of these standards is on a volunteer basis. William B. Gorlin, vice president of Entertainment Division, for McLaren Engineering Group, wonderfully stated: “we need to promote [these standards] with event producers, promoters, building officials, lawmakers, and insurance representatives” (2011, ¶ 7). Moreover, we need to work together with authorities having jurisdiction to promptly start requiring the use of technical standards and other best practices concerning temporary structures that have been properly studied and tested by dedicated industry professionals.


References:

Gorlin, W. B. (2011, August 15). Indiana State Fair Stage Collapse Commentary. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from Live Design: http://livedesignonline.com/stagingrental/0815_indiana_stage_collapse_commentary/


Hsu, C. (2011, August 15). Indiana Fair Deaths: 5 Killed at Sugarland Show. Retrieved August 29, 2011, from FindLaw.com: http://blogs.findlaw.com/injured/2011/08/indiana-fair-deaths-5-killed-at-sugarland-show.html

Hsu, C. (2011, August 22). Indiana Stage Collapse: $50M Wrongful Death Suit Filed. Retrieved August 29, 2011, from FindLaw.com: http://blogs.findlaw.com/injured/2011/08/indiana-stage-collapse-wrongful-death-suit-filed.html

Lavalley, A. (2011, August 19). Lawsuit filed for Wanatah victims of state fair stage collapse. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from Chicago Sun-Times: http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/7166895-418/lawsuit-filed-for-wanatah-victims-of-state-fair-stage-collapse.html

Scott Olson. (2011, August 31). State preparing to pay maximum in stage collapse damages. Retrieved August 31, 2011, from Indianapolis Business Journal: http://www.ibj.com/state-preparing-to-pay-5m-in-stage-collapse-damages/PARAMS/article/29265

Photo retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2011/08/14/li-indiana-stage-collapse-6.jpg

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