Risk assessments
- Loose leads/wires- is a trip hazard. This would cause minor injuries such as a sprained ankle or bruises. This would cause short term injuries and easily replaceable equipment. To prevent this, tape down the leads/wires so that they cannot trip anyone up.
- Electrical fires- could cause large scale injuries. This would cause major injuries depending on the scale of the fire. A fire could cause unfixable problems to equipment, needing to replace everything that has been damaged. It could also cause major injuries to the people on stage and the crown, having a large scale impact on people. To prevent this, have circuit breakers and check leads and wires before hand. Also clearly have fire extinguishers around and a clear fire escape.
- Equipment falling from ceiling (lights)- could be a major risk. Depending on where the equipment lands, it could either be a major risk or a minor risk. If the equipment lands on someone, it could be a major injury or either death. If the equipment lands elsewhere it would only damage equipment which would more than likely have to be replaced. To prevent this from happening, chain up the equipment on the ceiling to ensure that they will not fall.
- Overheating/over drinking/ dehydration- causes fainting. If a crowd/band crew member faints it can could cause slight injuries but also panic. If people don’t notice then the person that has fainted could get trampled on and get even more injured. To prevent this from happening have fans/air con to stop overheating, if outside provide shaded areas. Also provide free water bottles to people and a limit on how much alcohol you can get at a bar.
- Manual handling- cause long term injuries if not careful. Picking up large/heavy equipment can cause strain on a persons back and if not handled correctly it can cause long term damage. To prevent this from happening, lift equipment with your legs instead of your back and don’t carry too much by yourself.
This was causes do to high winds and a weak stage structure. Because of this, 7 people were killed and 58 others were severely injured. To have prevented this, the show should have been called off or prepared extra structure to the stage so that the high speed winds did not affect it as much. If the had done this, less people would have been injured and they could have potentially saved the lives of the 7 people who died.
Throughout the day of the concert, there were many reports of a storm coming in and that people in that area should expect extremely high winds. Because it costs money to cancel a show, the director wanted to delay the show instead of cancelling. However the manager of the band that were playing said they wanted to keep the show on and only cancel if the weather gets any worse.
When the storm got closer, at around 8;30 pm, the director got told to cancel the show and create and evacuation plan for the crowd by the state police. At 8;45 the director said the show would go on but gave out the instructions for the crowd to evacuate if the storm got any worse.
A very short time later, they decided that they should call off the show, but as they were going to announce it, the stage began to collapse. This meant there was no way to announce an evacuation. 7 people died in hospital from their injuries of being crushed.
The injuries and deaths would not have happened if they didn’t hesitate to call off the show. This is a great example of what could happen if all the risk assessments aren’t met, showing how important it is the do a risk assessment to insure peoples health and safety.