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Another Stage Collapse


Brian

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There's also this Facebook video with some better quality "before and after" footage...

 

There's usually one or two stage collapses a month shown on the online rigger's forums. I do not know if this is an increase in reporting, now that everyone carries a phone, if it's the same percentage incidence of accidents but a greater number of outdoor events taking place or if we are seeing poorer expertise in, planning of, and execution of temporary demountable structures....

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I’d say it’s more of the latter - there’s no new “proper” stage operators entering the market anywhere but lots of Lx / event companies discovering they can spend a few grand on some extra pieces for their truss stock and suddenly be able to offer stages and mega structures without ever understanding the secondary skills needed. Looking at all the recent outdoor stage collapses they all seem to be companies that have over-stretched rather than established structure designs or companies.
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As usual people have valid points to make and Simon and Tom are both correct as far as they go.

Just as a debating point, have we done ourselves in? The old rock image of party-on covered the work of some very intelligent, well educated and talented people who developed this industry. We created stuff like, in this case, staging and trussing that makes it look as if idiots could do it. We then get idiots doing it. Shock horror!

 

I reckon it is a complex mix of over-confidence, under skilling, over stretching and incompetence given worldwide exposure by social media. Many more events, many more people involved, much more complex systems used, greater weights and forces introduced by screens etc and more instant worldwide publicity than we could ever dream of. We have come a long way but we still have a long way to go especially in education. The US ESA is about to hold their second or third Extreme Weather Summit. 32 years after Live Aid we are just starting to examine the most significant safety factor in outdoor events, the weather.

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That's a very hard call to make. To cancel and derig an event like that will cause a huge and potentially bankrupting financial mess. Imagine cancelling and then the weather turns out fine.

 

Most events companies rely on every event they organise actually happening.

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