Jump to content

Canadian stage collapse


Arthur

Recommended Posts

Staging suppliers, meet Global Warming.

Whether you accept global warming or not, weather patterns have changed dramatically in the last few years.

Probably time to review all wind loading on temporary structures; stages, marquees, scaff towers, etc.

 

To avoid speculation, how many festivals have a weather warning system in place?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Staging suppliers, meet Global Warming.

Whether you accept global warming or not, weather patterns have changed dramatically in the last few years.

Probably time to review all wind loading on temporary structures; stages, marquees, scaff towers, etc.

 

To avoid speculation, how many festivals have a weather warning system in place?

 

I agree that the climate has changed and is probably still changing, one may argue if this is a natural fluctuation, or mans influence, but change is undoubtably occuring.

 

Extreme weather damage to permanent buildings and structures appears to be increasing also, despite building regulations.

 

I believe that wind resistance standards need to be increased for both permanent and temporary structures.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We'll have to wait for the official word on this one but one report I read said that festival was hit by what is known (at least in western Canada) as a "plough wind" at about 100km/h. If this is the case (and I stress the "if") then, although violent, it's not in the same league as a tornado or hurricane and is, in fact, not uncommon at this time of year in Alberta. That being the case, winds of this magnitude should have been considered when doing the sums for the stage design.

 

FYI, the same report also mentioned a weather warning system for the festival and said that organisers were in the process of clearing the stage when the wind hit.

 

Bob

 

 

Edited to add: While not claiming "expert" status, I grew up in Alberta and lived there until my mid-twenties--indeed, my father retired to Camrose where the festival took place so at least I've been through quite a few summers of the weather systems there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whether you accept global warming or not, weather patterns have changed dramatically in the last few years.
And they will continue to change. Various places around the globe continue to break all sorts of records; warmest winter, wettest summer, driest the other, whatever. Wherever you are, you weather WILL be changing, just how depends where you are in relation to the worlds climatic systems, and how those systems are affected by a slow increase in overall temperature. We didn't CAUSE this increase, however we ARE exacerbating it and only by serious reductions in ALL greenhouse gasses can we hope to bring the rise back to the natural swing. This may not be enough to save us.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all

 

We now know of 6 stage roof collapses in the last 3 months. 2 in UK, 1 in France, 1 in Russia, 1 in USA and now 1 in Canada.

 

Those that are affected by wind should be designed (in UK) to withstand 25m/s, which is around 58 mph or 92 kmh. It is generally the gust (rather than average) speeds that do the damage. For most parts of the UK you can get the gust wind speeds FREE(!) off the Weather tab on our website at www.StarEventsGroup.com

 

Roger B

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not the regulations or standards that are the problem it's the standard of construction and the monitoring that are at fault.

 

most of the stage roofs in this country are designed to high standards and if operated correctly will account well for themselves in adverse conditions.

where the problem lies is in the standard of construction on site and the monitoring of conditions throughout an event. I have worked on several stages this summer which have not been completed to the design specifications in fact one of them we had too abandon as it was unsafe to carry on working.

 

Every stage should have a wind monitoring kit and somebody to monitor it, you will never legislate for every eventuality but you can work to prevent accidents and injuries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.