Accident at Winter Garden- Page 2

[nealb1]

Posted: 11/13/20 at 7:16pm

Just so horrible. May he rest in peace. Without a stage crew, there would be no plays or musicals for us to see and admire.  

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 11/16/20 at 12:00am

Family has been notified. "The stagehand" was 54 year old Pete Wright, who was the head flyman at the August Wilson.

The lights of the August Wilson marquee were lit for him this weekend at the behest of Jordan Roth.

[Wick3]

Posted: 11/16/20 at 11:52am

May he rest in peace. That was classy of Jordan Roth to have the marquee lights up for the late Pete Wright this past weekend.

August Wilson is Jujamcyn right? And Winter Garden is Shubert? I didn't realize stage crew folks for a Jujamcyn theater can work for a Shubert theater at the same time.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/16/20 at 12:13pm

@Wick3 -

Yes, the Winter Garden is a Shubert house and the Wilson is a Jujamcyn house. No, there is no "exclusivity" here. You can be a House crew member and take extra work anywhere else you choose. Crew members of a show will often take extra work doing load in / load outs / restorations of other houses as their schedule allows in order to augment their income, just as actors do readings / workshops and film / tv on the side.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 11/16/20 at 12:31pm

HogansHero said: "Fosse76 said: "ghostlight2 said: "Alex, the news report says he died at the hospital."

Actually, the article stated he was pronounced dead at the hospital. That doesn't mean he didn't die on the scene. Generally, only a physician or nurse can pronounce a death (it varies by state). Since they usually don't get dispatched to the scene, the pronouncement doesn't happen until they arrive at the hospital."

EMTs (and others who are not doctors) can pronounce in New York. In the early days of the pandemic, some deceased people were taken by EMTs directly from home to the refrigerated morgue trucks after they pronounced.

ETA: He could have been dead but EMTs are trained to continue efforts until certain protocols have been followed. The hospital was close by, so it is entirely possible they had not given up.

ETA #2: The Times report clarifies (a) that it was indeed a ladder (from the fly floor) and (b) that he was doing routine maintenance."

In the UK a ETA/Paramedic can pronounce so me one dead, if their injuries are not compatible with life, the ambulance then takes them straight to the morgue.

Obviously a bit late now but 50/60 feet is very high to climb without a harness, surely Pete should have been wearing a harness, for this very reason.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 11/16/20 at 1:22pm

"Obviously a bit late now but 50/60 feet is very high to climb without a harness, surely Pete should have been wearing a harness, for this very reason."

These kinds of ladders would have to be retrofitted or rebuilt entirely to make harness-wearing feasible. Every Broadway theater has at least two like this, often more if they have a rooftop water container.  
 

 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/17/20 at 2:48pm

A little more about him, for those interested. May he rest in peace.

 https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-worker-fatal-fall-broadway-theater-mourned-20201116-yzt73csvbfdznaalgtjl3k7iri-story.html

[Wick3]

Posted: 11/17/20 at 4:39pm

Thx Broadwayguy2 for the info! I just thought stagecrew were similar to ushers in terms of exclusivity hence why I asked the question.

There is a gofundme for him in case anyone on here would like to donate and help his family.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-loving-memory-of-pete-wright?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all

[wcoyote]

Posted: 11/18/20 at 10:54pm

Normally Fly floors are 60 to 70 feet above stage level.  It's common for stagehands to work on ladders while working on the Fly floor.  It's not always practical to hook into something with a harness to secure yourself while doing this.  Same could be said for other areas of the Theater - The Grid, false ceiling, Box booms, Etc.  He was restoring a louver on an air conditioning duct when he lost balance and fell off the ladder and over the side rail to the Fly floor and to his death.  This work is common and dangerous.  There should be a larger and detailed discussion about OSHA rules and show installations.  In reality if all OSHA rules were followed shows would take many more weeks to load in costing millions more in capitalisations .  It's a practice that isn't discussed and just assumed the Stagehands will ignore and get the job done.  They get paid well for a reason.

[morosco]

Posted: 11/18/20 at 11:00pm

This question is not specific to this particular accident. Are Broadway stagehands required to wear hard hats during load in / load out?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/19/20 at 10:11am

Morosco, I won't answer that to Broadway SPECIFICALLY... I will just say that you would be VERY surprised how a rule like that can change so wildly by locality and venue.
I have been in the middle of load ins where you must have a hardhat on at all times and I have been in the middle of load ins where I could not have found a hardhat in the building if I were on a million dollar scavenger hunt.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 11/19/20 at 10:32am

The rule of thumb of requiring a hard hat at least on a construction site, was they are required whenever there was work being done overhead.  Of course, with everything in life, there are noncompliance to rules and guidelines.   There are companies who would go beyond the guidelines and require a hardhat regardless, to ensure a safe work site.   Then you would have companies who didn't follow the guidelines.  Not require/enforce.  They were usually the companies with the poor safety records.  It has been said that due to the set up of the theatres, harness and  belts are generally not used.  I just can't believe that someone who is 60-70 feet above ground is not required to wear fall protection, even if chance of falling is slim.  I would say it is required and over the years not enforced.  I believe there will be a serious change, due to this fatality.

[wcoyote]

Posted: 11/19/20 at 10:33am

morosco said: "This question is not specific to this particular accident. Are Broadway stagehands required to wear hard hats during load in / load out?"

They are now although it wasn't widely enforced.  The practice only started within the last 5 years unless it was a major theater renovation.  It also depends on the theater owner and the department heads.  There was an accident this year at the Golden theater where steel fell from the grid hitting both the fly floor and the stage.  Stagehands on the Fly Floor were severely hurt.  Since then you saw wide spread enforcement of hart hat rules while on stage.  With the incident at the Winter Garden a hard hat wasn't going to save him.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 11/19/20 at 10:55am

"I have been in the middle of load ins where you must have a hardhat on at all times and I have been in the middle of load ins where I could not have found a hardhat in the building if I were on a million dollar scavenger hunt."

You have? I won't out you, but you remember that I know who you are IRL, yes? You might have been on the periphery of a load-in/out, but you have never been in the "middle" of either, nor ever have needed a hard hat.

The answer is yes, morosco. These days, stagehands are required to wear hard hats. That would not have saved Mr Wright, unfortunately.

"It's common for stagehands to work on ladders while working on the Fly floor.  It's not always practical to hook into something with a harness to secure yourself while doing this."

Neither of these things are true. Stagehands rarely work on ladders of this type. They are merely a means to get to one level to another. Period. If you are on a ladder like this, it is incredibly easy to secure yourself if you are on a fixed ladder.  You take a loop or three around a rung and secure yourself. To do that simply to climb a ladder isn't really feasible, and would be dangerous.

For that, you need something to clip onto, like the marquees outside the theater. Harness up, clip on, lock off. You release the clip when you need to move, but should you lose your grip, the fall arrest will trigger a lockdown.

" They get paid well for a reason."

We agree on this.

 

 

Updated On: 11/19/20 at 10:55 AM

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 11/20/20 at 12:58pm

Stagehands do get paid well and the reason shouldn’t be about life and death, which unfortunately in this case was fatal.

We all know Health and Safety and can be laborious, for this reason it is often ignored, but basic safety like wearing hard hats and steel cap boots is simple, working at heights you should be secured to something, as ghostlight2 suggested.

We have all burnt ourselves put something in and out of the oven. but ultimately it is 100% possible to do this without burning yourself.

This story and the the Golden Theatre incident reminds me of construction workers in Las Vegas, with high fatalities and the authorities simply looked the other way, that is why the Las Vegas Sun won the Pulitzer for its reporting on this.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/20/20 at 4:49pm

Wow. Well, on this note, I am just going to take my resume and go home. Peace.