I just caught this, and I'm a bit behind... On May 6th, a stagehand fell to his death in Miami. He fell because though he was wearing a full body harness, he had not bothered to clip it in to the fall arrest system... There is simply no excuse for this... Personally I love heights, but I'm scared to death of falling, as should anyone... A lot of time has been put in to getting fall arrest systems out on the road for this reason... To no use it is simply insane... Stagehands do not work under the best circumstances, so it’s simply a must...
The background on this one is that he was climbing to a spotlight position between the opening and headline act. The climb is usually up a wire rope ladder, though I do not know for sure in this case... Climbing a rope ladder is difficult at any time, but in the dark between acts, it’s ugly... There is a retractable system that attaches to your harness while you climb, and it works like a seatbelt sorta... If you slip, and accelerate downward, it locks and you hang there, uncomfortable, but alive... It seems that not only him, but two other hands felt it was too dark to use the tether system, and simply didn't... (I'm not sure how it can be too dark, so don't ask) The thing that kills me on this, is the guy that fell, had a fall in 1989 that had him disabled for 6 months... Wouldn't you think he'd be the king of fall arrest?... I feel sorry for his family, his friends, the promoter, the gear company (who will probably be in litigation shortly in our lovely country), and all the patrons who saw the fall... I am not, however, in the least bit sorry for someone who does not use the safety equipment that is in place to protect them...
*Grumbles* Idiots annoy me... Half of me is sad that he died, and the other half of me is glad he removed himself from the gene pool.
Posted by: Mookie at May 13, 2004 06:23 PMI used to be an iron worker back in the day... we had a saying "the fall don't kill you, it's the sudden stop at the end". My best friend stepped onto a ladder that wasn't bolted down properly and fell to his death... I'm glad I wasn't at the job that day, but it sure made it hard to go back up... but you can bet your ass, I ALWAYS tied off and checked every ladder before stepping onto it.
Posted by: Madfish Willie at May 13, 2004 08:58 PMSo far, I've managed to avoid ever seeing a fall... Partially because I'm somthing of a nazi about making people tie in, partly because I'm just lucky... I've known people that went down though... They're all extremely lucky to be alive...
Posted by: Tim at May 13, 2004 11:14 PMSame goes for seat belts. I never drive without 'em.
Posted by: Parkway Rest Stop at May 15, 2004 12:58 PMHere, here... I can't imagine not useing a seatbelt now... Its always strange getting in an old car or truck that has only lap belts, or nothing at all...
Posted by: Tim at May 15, 2004 03:36 PM