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Spot Operator falls to his death


Brian

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just run across this elsewhere...

 

Miami Herald, Florida.

Posted on Thu, May. 06, 2004

 

Bowie concert canceled when worker falls to his death

 

By Herald Staff

 

A David Bowie concert was canceled after a spotlight

technician fell 50 feet to his death, Miami Fire Rescue said.

 

The man, who was said to be in his forties, was climbing a

chain ladder shortly before he fell and landed on his head at

8:25 p.m., Miami Fire spokesman Ignatius Carroll said.

 

The worker was pronounced dead at Ryder Trauma Center.

 

MORE HERE

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Further details here (no registration or sign-in required).

Yeah - I went there and got a giant picture of Spiderman as an advert in the midle of the text,

 

Nice and sensitive newspaper.

 

 

James

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Serves as a reminder that even something apparently as simple as using a ladder can lead to the most serious of consequences.

Well, yes, you'd think that as long as the proper safety procedures (i.e. fall arrest) were being followed, climbing a truss ladder is a pretty straightforward operation. However, from the Sun-Sentinel article ...

Thomas was not wearing a safety harness

Enough said ...

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  • 2 weeks later...
Thomas was not wearing a safety harness

 

with all due respect, why can someone working in the industry working without safty harnesses ? aren´t there correlative regulations ?

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  • 3 months later...
Guest lightnix

Stagehand fell after drug use

from the Miami Herald, 19th August 2004

 

Traces of cocaine have been found in the body of a stagehand who fell to his death while working a David Bowie concert... according to a recently completed toxicology report by the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office...

 

Walter ''Wally'' Thomas, 44... died of blunt trauma May 6 after he fell some 30 feet onto the darkened stage within view of front-seat concertgoers...

 

...The medical examiner's report indicates Thomas was under the influence the night of the concert, said Dr. Lee Hearn, director of toxicology for the office...

 

...Thomas had used cocaine ''two to three hours before he died,'' at around 8:30 p.m., Hearn said...

 

''Cocaine has an effect on judgment. People take risks they would not normally take; they tend to be impulsive. The degree to which that played a role here, I can't tell you,'' Hearn said.

 

...Early on, investigators believed Thomas -- 5-foot-3 and 235 pounds -- ... apparently failed to clip a tether line near the ladder to his required ''fall-stopping'' full body safety harness...

 

...A police report said three other stagehands wore the harnesses, but told investigators they were not attached to the tether because the stage was too dark and they couldn't find the line...

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Worth remebering anything you take can have an effect,presciption medicines and even over the counter remedies, having just about been wiped out by somebody a bit dozy after half a bottle of Benylin over the day, the advisories about heavy machinery, climbing etc do mean something.

 

You dont need to be R`n`R with the Colombian nose powder to do something you wouldn`t otherwise.

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