Violinist Dies After Fall Into Orchestra Lift Machinery Pit

2013-07-16 - Moscow, Russia - A 40 year veteran of the Bolshoi Theatre died Wednesday at a Moscow hospital as a result of injuries sustained from a fall into the machinery pit of the Orchestra Lift.  Violinist Viktor Sedov, 65, was found lying on the pit floor about 2:30PM Tuesday when a theatre employee making a routine fire safety round found Sedov lying unconscious on the pit's concrete floor.  He was taken to the Sklifosovsky Hospital where he passed away the following day.

The accident happened in the New Stage venue, one of four venues in the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia complex.  The Main Stage venue had recently gone through significant architectural modifications, and it is suspected that Sedov entered the unlit sub-stage entry platform behind the orchestra lift and stepped out in the darkness to where he believed the Orchestra Lift Platform was positioned.  In the old configuration of the facility the platform was at the same level as the bottom of the pit.  The lift platform was up at a higher level and he plummeted into the machinery pit.  One report says the fall was about 6 meters (19 feet), but this may be the total depth from the stage, and not the depth from the sub-stage entry platform, however, another news report says that he fell from the stage level. Part of the facility reconstruction involved the addition of many levels of subterranean storage and workspaces, so it may be that the Orchestra Lift pit did extend down 6 meters from the substage platform.

On Wednesday, the Bolshoi's press secretary, Katerina Novikova, said the cause of Sedov's death will be determined by a special commission.  A decision regarding further legal action will be made depending on the outcome of the police inquiry into the incident.

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Commentary

In this accident, there are several causal factors to consider:

• Inadequate illumination of the walking surfaces.
• Lack of guardrails to protect workers from falls.
• Lack of interlocks on doors leading to hazardous workspaces.
• Solo workers in unobserved workspaces.

We can learn from other industries' Best Practices and incorporate those procedures into our daily regimen.  In the sport of SCUBA diving they use the Buddy System - participants NEVER dive by themselves - there is always someone with you nearby that can you rely upon to help you if you need it.  Theatre facilities should have a similar policy.  There are 1000's of scenarios where a single person in a theatre can be injured and not be able to call for help.  If you have a co-worker with you the odds of both person's being incapacitated are significantly reduced.  Simply put:  Don't go into the theatre by yourself!

Weebles Wobble - But They Don't Fall Down

What better time to talk about Ghost Lights than during the Halloween season?  One of the prime reasons to have a Ghost Light on your stage is to prevent accidents.  Stages have places you can fall off of like trap openings and the front of the stage, and they have plenty of things to bump into and trip over, or at least bust-up your face or shin real good.  Ouch!  Halloween scars that are permanent.  Just what every aspiring actor needs.

One of the most common reasons for not having a Ghost Light is that they aren't commonly available from theatrical supply houses.  All of the Ghost Lights I've ever seen have been cobbled together by well meaning shop craftsmen. The problem with this approach is that whenever you manufacture something you assume the liability for it as well.  When you combine this with poor electrical knowledge and make-shift adaptations the results can be electrically hazardous as well as physically hazardous.  So where is the safety in that?

I was at the local big-box hardware store the other day and I noticed this gizmo:
Item 212004, Model GL600 (www.lowes.com/pd_212004-337-GL600_0)
[Update 2015-08:  This product is no longer available.]

Lowes sells it under their Utilitech brand (made by Cooper Lighting), it is UL and CSA safety listed, fairly inexpensive, and most of all, pretty darn indestructible.  The unit has a weighted base that houses the fluorescent lamp ballast, and incorporates a groove around it to wrap-up the cable when it is not in use.

The case is plastic and has a tie loop at the top if you need to hang it up for storage or suspend it. The clear plastic tube that house the lamp acts as a container to keep broken glass off of the stage should you give it a really significant whack.

Fortunately, the unit does NOT come equipped with a lamp (yes, this is a GOOD THING).  When you outfit it with a lamp you can choose the color temperature (CCT) and color rendering index (CRI, or Ra) so that it doesn't clash with your other work lighting, and if you elect to beef-it-up a bit you can install a hard-use lamp like those made by ShatRShield (www.shatrshield.com/catt8page.html)

This unit uses less than 40 Watts of power and lights-up a pretty good area around the stage, so pop one out onto the proscenium line so nobody has to grope in the dark and fall off into the orchestra pit.  That's a dangerous fall to make unexpectedly, and many people over the years have been killed or received career-ending injuries this way.

And a note about the Energy Nazies:  There is always some well-meaning but oblivious-to-the-safety-implications individual that feels compelled to turn-off every light they find glowing.  For a  Ghost Light  to be effective, it must be left ON.  You have to twart them at their game.  What can you do?  Post a sign at both the on/off switch on the Ghost Light AND at the end of the cord(s) that supply the power.  Be polite, but be firm.

 "I want you to meet my little friend." said Al Pacino's character in Scarface.  This will confuse the energy Nazies for sure:  Add a  photoluminescent  tube over the lamp.  This will continue to glow for about 40 hours after you remove the power from the lamp - so it will give any stage marauders a bit of a chance see where they are going should the power go off (or be switched off).  The Lumenite® Light Sleeve is a semi-translucent,  photoluminescent  sleeve that fits readily over new or existing fluorescent tubes.

 

More Luminite info here:

www.lumenite.biz/shop.php/light-sleeves/c_12.html

Do you really want to keep it safe and confuse the Energy Nazies?  Add an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to the Ghost Light.  At only 40 Watts power draw, a small UPS will keep the lights on for hours.  If you use an LED based lamp, then the darn thing could glow for a day or more.