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Home > Blog > Stage Collapse

Stage Collapse
Written by Adam Proto   
Friday, 19 August 2011 14:54
Following the tragic collapse of two stages this month both incidents claiming the lives of members of the audience it’s an unnecessary wake-up call to everyone in the event industry not to sit back and think it will never happen to me. From the limited knowledge I have of both incidents and studying the available footage it would appear both promoters were caught out by a weather state that very quickly turned and resulted in conditions way beyond the level that the structures were capable of standing up in.

Hindsight is a great thing but no use to anyone after event apart from dissecting what went wrong and learning from it, if we fail to do that then the injustice to those killed is just magnified by our stupidity  

We could ask a number of questions as why the organisers found themselves in that position,

  1. Why did they not recognise the weather was changing for the worse and evacuate before or at least move the audience to a safe location.
  2. Were the structures sound in their construction, by which I mean were they rated for those kind of wind speeds and if so were they put up properly and who signed them off.
  3. If they weren’t rated for the eventual wind speed, why was the audience not evacuated once the wind speed reached a safe but agreed cut off point which allowed enough time to safely get the audience out of the structure.
  4. The correct pre-planning and creation of a crises management plan should of identified the risk and potential danger to the public, it should of kicked in and made the decision to stop both event well before it got to the point of no return – that is why we do them isn’t it, so when it comes to making the difficult decision at the most difficult time the decision is made for you because you have thought about it with a rational head and good council to advise you pre-event.
  5. I know when I am uncomfortable about the structural integrity of a tent or stage, surly there were experienced professionals on site who recognised that.

Health and safety is often attributed to old annoying and smelly men with beards, white socks and sandals whose sole job is to ruin any fun that can had by anything or anybody at anytime. This has a glimmer of truth in it but the nightmare of the Belgium and American stage collapse only serves to re-enforce that if we ignore our responsibility as event manager and promoters then people die, and that is the reality of our job and profession.

Do it right and Do it well or leave it to those who can!
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