The good news is that no one was seriously injured…as far as we know…and we don't know much. The bad news is that it happened again. "It" is yet another major rigging catastrophe. This time it happened during the load-in and setup for double Academy Award winner (best original music score and best original song for Slumdog Millionaire) and double Grammy Award winner A.R. Rahman's Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac Michigan. Although no one was killed, early new reports say that 10 people were injured, only two of which were serious enough to go to the hospital. It's challenging to get much information because people are reluctant to talk, probably for good reasons. There is a lot at stake: people's livelihoods, the reputations of people, gear, and companies, lots of money and possibly more. But how can we learn from our accidents if we don't know the causes?
When accidents like this happen, there is typically a concerted effort to control the flow of information. Try to find any information about the outcome of the accident in Texas Stadium involving Garth Brook's rig, or the one in Atlantic City involving the Justin Timberlake/Christina Aguilera tour. In July of last year, when Madonna's load-in/set up went awry, very little information was published about the causes of the accident in which two of the crew lost their lives. The only bit of information I can find on the internet to this day is that they think there was a mechanical failure in one of the cranes, something about a "power winch." Nor are there many details about exactly what led to the stage collapses at the Beale Street Festival in May, the Elton John concert site at the Mayan pyramids in Chichen Itza last April, the Guns N' Roses show at Apoteose Stadium in Rio de Janeiro last March, outside of the Sun Life Stadium at the 2010 Super Bowl in January, the Big Valley Jamboree in Alberta, Canada in August 2009, the Pepsi concert in Guangzhou, China in July 2009, the Monsters of Rock in Novosibirsk, Russia in June 2009, or the Bearded Theory show at Hulland Ward, U.K. in May 2009. Did I miss any?
Counting the Madonna accident in July 2009, there were at least 10 staging accidents in 13 months. Some accidents are caused by freak weather, some by equipment failure, and some by improper rigging practices, and some, like the accident at the Hyatt Regency in Houston – where a stagehand removed a sandbag acting as ballast for a pipe-and-base stand to which an automated light was rigged, causing it to fall several stories in the atrium onto an innocent bystander – are caused by human error. Most of these are preventable accidents, and even the accidents caused by freak weather might be avoided by a better understanding of the causes and better technology and techniques to withstand or avoid higher wind speeds and rain loads.
I'm no rigger, but know from experience that a little education goes a long way. Rigorous, ongoing education is what this industry needs to reduce workplace accidents. If we choose to ignore the high number of accidents and fail to educate ourselves, then don't be surprised if lawmakers start getting involved in enacting legislation to regulate the industry. It happened after the pyro disaster in Rhode Island, and it will happen again if we let it. And when it does, you will not like it. Remember the attempt in California to legislate incandescent lamps out of the state? Or the attempt to legislate the practice of lighting design in Texas? If those two bills became law as originally written, then it might be against the law to buy a Source Four in California, and architects and landscape architects would be able to design the lighting for theatres in Texas, but you wouldn't.
I don't know exactly why all of these rigging accidents are taking place, but there is no harder lesson to learn than learning by accident. Instead, let's learn by choice. Until then, don't be surprised if the next time you see me I'm wearing a hard hat.
