As we head into the summer season—even in a flat-out crappy economy—it means time for festivals, fairs and other outdoor one-offs. We may be coming out of the mire a little earlier than other places but things at least appear to be slowly picking up in Las Vegas. After a really slow few months, more than one company I know of out here is running up to three shows deep some weekends.
This is all good news. But, especially after a bad run, when things pick up there is a temptation in some quarters to make up for the lean months by “value engineering” the good gigs.
“Value engineering.” That’s a phrase I just learned talking with some venue designers, and it is basically a nice way of saying “cutting corners.” Now when you are talking about an install, that may mean saving some bucks by buying an analog console instead of that shiny new digital job, but it rarely means compromising safety. But start cutting corners on a live gig and someone could get hurt.
I am writing this because I am getting a little concerned. Yes, it was a long, lean winter, and in most areas, the lean times are not over yet, and not everyone has or will come out the other side as a still-viable company. Even so, it is incumbent on the companies that do make it through to maintain a certain standard of quality and—especially—safety on the gig. I have heard too many stories from too many in-the-trenches guys about showing up on a call and, instead of the experienced guys they are used to seeing, being confronted with younger, less experienced hands who are making substantially less bread than their more experienced brethren.
You have probably already seen the headlines. At a Midwest fair gig, during the first set of the Can’t Stop Rockin’ tour featuring REO Speedwagon, Styx and .38 Special, a chain motor “gave” and the entire lighting rig dropped several feet. No one was hurt, but it could have been way worse. Just the fact that it happened is bad enough, but people on site have reported (and as we were not there and can’t confirm it, we must label it an “allegation”) that the motor in question had rusty water running out of it as the rig was going up.
So, after the fact, people are alleging that there was a problem at the very beginning. Did anyone report it? If so, were their warnings taken seriously, or were they blown off? Was there really something wrong with the motor? If so, why was it even in the rig?
We should not have to be asking questions like this. When it comes to job safety, it falls on all of us to speak up if we see something that is just not right. I know, when work is slow and you need to make the rent, it is hard to speak up and take the chance of being seen as “difficult” and risking getting a call for the next gig. But what if that rig had kept falling and someone was injured or killed and you were the guy who saw the rusty water and chose not to make waves?
Here in Las Vegas we were recently reminded that even when things are done right this can be a dangerous gig. A rigger—one whose father is one of the better-known riggers in town and who had the business in his blood—took a bad step. He was wearing a harness, and from what we have been able to find out, may have taken that bad step while trying to clip onto a safety line. He fell from the grid to the stage and was dead before the paramedics could even get there.
I guess this falls under the general heading of one of those “Let’s all be careful out there” rants. And yes, we have said it before. But I am worried that given a lean few months, some may cut corners that should not be cut in an effort to make up for some of the recent hard times.
If you find yourself facing that temptation or having to decide whether or not to report an unsafe situations that could prove dangerous, remember that the gig lasts today, but the fallout of an on-the-job injury or death can go on for the rest of your life.
