Soho Theatre Accident June 2012

[Tom]

I've not seen this mentioned on here elsewhere.

 

The Soho Theatre is facing a substantial fine after pleading guilty to two charges under health and safety legislation for an accident that left a stage manager paralysed for life.

 

The Stage Newspaper

 

Sounds nasty and a heads up for us all.

 

I'm not quite clear from the article if this was a door on the set or part of the structure of the building. I'm presuming the latter but does anybody know.

[vinntec]

Yes it doesn't quite make sense. If it was a visiting company then presumably it was their set which was left in an unsafe state? This would normally be the company SM's responsibility - or does the theatre itself get blamed anyway as they should have checked?

[Roderick]

The article states: "an open and unmarked ‘Juliet’ door (a second-storey opening on a set)" so I can only assume that it was part of the set.

 

It would be good to get some more detail on what actually happened here as it can be a valuable lesson for all of us.

I quite often question the status of set pieces when there are not in use on stage. This is why.

[Jivemaster]

IIRC HSE will go for every legal entity when prosecuting, from the top down -the venue is at the top and every self employed general dogs body is at the bottom. It's likely that the venue hire T&C's will make the hirer liable for any venue costs, but the venue will still be prosecuted and it's up to them whether they pass the costs on to the hirer or their insurer.

 

Obviously someone got badly hurt, but there will never be any established facts published to help avoid the same situation again, -and it's likely that R&J will be performed most weeks, for ever, somewhere in the UK. So a good investigators report would be most helpful.

[Simon Lewis]

Does not the venue's duty of care apply here - i.e. It has an overriding requirement to ensure a safe place of work and therefore should ensure that subcontractors or hirers are not put in danger.I believe a venue was prosecuted when visiting crew were hurt falling from a scaff tower. Although somewhat removed from the accident, the venue was still held liable for people working on their premises.

 

 

 

[the kid]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/stagehand-at-london-theatre-paralysed-after-falling-through-unmarked-unlocked-trapdoor-9784148.html

 

As I understand it, it is a venue door that is built at x height from the floor to allow entrance on to a set with 2 levels removing the need to hidden backstage steps. They mention in the story it was reported a month previously and not fixed.

[top-cat]

Last year I worked on a new build where the client wanted permanent doors built about 5m up the auditorium wall, for when they put in temporary seating platforms or VIP decks or FOH control or whatever, to have independent access through the venue corridors as well as off the auditorium floor.

 

We looked at a load of options for how to make them idiot proof. Locks are fine but they still rely on people remembering to lock them, and people do make mistakes or forget to do things. We couldn't get too hasty with "sheer drop" warning signs because the doors were public side and were to be used by the public on events with the platforms in place for that purpose. So it had to be neat and tidy too.

 

The solution we eventually came up with was nice and simply. The doors opened outwards (into the auditorium) and had a 6" long folding step at the base of the door. This step folds flat when unlocked with a key, but sits upright when not in use. Once unlocked and folded down, it has to be secured into the decking platforms - which we supplied as part of the build. If not locked down, the spring mechanism forces it back up where it locks into place. It thus serves 2 purposes: 1) It means that when the platform is in use, it can be folded out and ensures a zero gap between the door and platform. But also 2) you physically cannot open the door when it is flipped up. So as soon as a deck is removed, the step flips back into the vertical plane and blocks the door. Thus it's completely secure - the door can only be opened when a platform is in place behind the door.

[Junior8]

The Standard's account is a bit more detailed than that of the Stage but this is one where you really need to have heard the evidence. It seems to me that this door was part of the venue but beyond that just what the victim was actually doing when she fell is unclear from the press reports, maybe because of any pending claims. For me it's just another reminder that you really do have to 'newcomer proof' any venue....

 

Edit - which is what the above ingenious solution, posted while I was writing, did....

[top-cat]

The Standard's account is a bit more detailed than that of the Stage but this is one where you really need to have heard the evidence. It seems to me that this door was part of the venue but beyond that just what the victim was actually doing when she fell is unclear from the press reports, maybe because of any pending claims. For me it's just another reminder that you really do have to 'newcomer proof' any venue....

 

I wasn't going to say anything because I pity the poor girl but you do wonder why she was going through the door. One would like to assume she was simply lost. With theatres being dark places, and frequently visited by new productions for only a week at a time, theatre designers have to remember that all parts of the working areas will be frequently used by people who are not familiar with the building, working in low light conditions, under tight time constraints, and quite possibly with the effects of fatigue playing on them too. Whatever she was doing, I do agree in putting blame on the theatre, the fact is that any door which leads onto a sheer 10 foot drop should never ever be left unlocked, especially if it's unmarked as well. That is pointlessly stupid and I can't believe it was so brazenly overlooked.

 

Edit - which is what the above ingenious solution, posted while I was writing, did....

 

Why thank you, I do have them occasionally...

[MarkB]

I know the venue, I was there with National Youth Theatre in 2008/9. IF it is the door that I know, it is 1 to 2 stories above the stage.

It is not accessed via a public space, it's off a corridor / general backstage / office space.

And in 2008 it had no purpose other than as a Juliet door, there was no access to the lighting bars etc.

When I was there it was always locked. The staff there were great people, I really hope that this had no ill effects on them.

[kerry davies]

Thanks Mark, I had figured it to be from the third floor office which is the "crossover" during shows. The reports are poorly written and we do not know specifics so all is conjecture.

 

We may never know exactly what happened. This is the criminal case to which one party has pleaded guilty so little or no factual evidence will be examined apart from the charges. We may learn something when sentence is passed and the case makes it onto HSE prosecutions web pages.

 

The civil case could take years and may well be settled out of court so that may never reveal anything and the subsequent insurer dogfight will be behind closed doors.

 

In H&S terms it raises a plethora of topics. Collective responsibility and safety measures, reporting and resolution of risk, risk hierarchy, familiarity and induction, working practices and the culture of theatre, ongoing risk assessment, the roles and duties of employer, employee and the self-employed, HASAWA and MHSWA.

 

Let us all just learn from this and wish Rachael the best for the future. She is back in Sydney and studying at UNE so she must be a pretty strong character.

[Brian]

Soho Theatre fined over fall that paralysed stage manager.

[Roderick]

And this: 9MSN

[paulears]

I think a full reading of the court transcript would be sensible in this case as all the snippets are somewhat sparse on detail. The interesting parts would be the responses of the venues insurance company, which are the critical component in assessing the damages. While the facts are fairly straightforward - as in the door had previously been locked and barred, and she suffered such life changing injuries - for us, the elements we would be interested in were the 'whys'. These impact on us.

 

She was a stranger to the venue - yet was exploring in the dark. Sounds crazy, but I've done it.

The safety system had been removed - why? Again, I can think of examples of doing a one-off mod and failing to sort it afterwards

 

It's the unexpected circumstances. The court transcript would show great detail in the person. I know from my experience how the venue's legal people would try to mitigate their loss by all sorts of quite devious methods. It would be quite interesting to see what suggestions were put forward to attempt to infer the accident was her fault, and how she must take some of the blame for exploring in the dark and going through doors that could lead to anywhere? These are the kinds of things we should be aware of - those things we do sometimes that we really shouldn't.

 

The facts on this one are kind of sensationalised for general readers - she went up a serial staircase in the dark - how odd?

 

I love exploring - finding strange staircases that appear to lead to nowhere, or odd doorways that look interesting, and are unlocked - I'm just nosey. I once appeared in an office full of people, through a door with no handle on the other side, that the occupants had no idea even led anywhere. I've been back, and now that door is locked on the office side with a padlock!

[Ynot]

It would be quite interesting to see what suggestions were put forward to attempt to infer the accident was her fault, and how she must take some of the blame for exploring in the dark and going through doors that could lead to anywhere? These are the kinds of things we should be aware of - those things we do sometimes that we really shouldn't.

Interesting statement - and one that I'd lend some support to.

 

At the end of the day, WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR OWN SAFE WORKING PRACTICES.

 

Quite simple, but in this day of ambulance chasing it's easy to have an 'accident' (and no, I still don't use that word if I can help it) and search for blame elsewhere.

Granted, blame may well exist elsewhere, but backstage IS a dangerous place at times especially if we don't pay attention to what 'might' be there (or not there) - especially on an unfamiliar stage the assumption must be that danger lies everywhere so take due care and attention.