# Three year-old killed by platform



## derekleffew (May 12, 2011)

Alyssa Jade Mayfield, 3, of Gaffney, dies after portable stage falls on her | GoUpstate.com

Could a $2 ratchet strap or bungee cord have prevented this?


----------



## Footer (May 12, 2011)

That church is going to get their ass sued off... and deserves every bit of it. If its a versalite system they have rachets built into the carts (they are usually broken, but they are there). I have seen decks fall off those versalite carts by just bumping them if they are not strapped down. Sad that this girl had to die because people can't follow the instructions printed on the cart. 

http://www.wengercorp.com/Lit/Wenger Versalite Storage Carts-TS.pdf


----------



## gafftaper (May 12, 2011)

At the end of the news article the Coroner said, "This is a tragic _*accident*_ and..."

These "Tragic Accidents" drive me nuts. How many times do we see these completely preventable deaths labeled a "tragic accident"?!?! It's not an accident when someone doesn't follow directions and secure the load according to the manual!


----------



## techieman33 (May 12, 2011)

That's pure negligence, the 3 year old should haven't been where she could get near the carts even with the load strapped down properly.


----------



## cpf (May 12, 2011)

Ouch, one of those type of carts just came through my theatre, I'll need to check if it had a strap next time I see it...


----------



## Footer (May 12, 2011)

cpf said:


> Ouch, one of those type of carts just came through my theatre, I'll need to check if it had a strap next time I see it...


 
I don't know if this is the exact cart that caused this girls death, however there is a good chance of it. Stageright does not store their decks in racks like the Wenger units. Because they said the unit was a "portable stage" I went right to the industry standard versa-lite. If it was versa-lite, that was an 107# deck falling on a 30# kid. Anything stored vertically that has wheels should be strapped down... period.


----------



## gafftapegreenia (May 12, 2011)

The fact that these carts were stored openly in the gym is part of the problem. Simple and classic negligence.


----------



## soundlight (May 12, 2011)

This was an entirely preventable incident and not at all an accident. I was just working with 4x8 risers today and our decks & carts are of the Staging Concepts variety - ours have a metal bar that prevents the decks from tipping out of the cart. This is a case of negligence and I agree that the church should have their ass sued out from under them for this. I am a huge stickler about deck cart bars in our case - making sure that there are no deck carts where it is possible for a deck to tip, because with the sharp metal edge those things can do some real damage to people and gear.


----------



## MNicolai (May 12, 2011)

gafftapegreenia said:


> The fact that these carts were stored openly in the gym is part of the problem. Simple and classic negligence.


 
The problem was the carts didn't have the platforms strapped to them. You can't expect every church and school to not store platform carts in corners of gymnasiums, especially because with churches this "gym" is probably more of a multipurpose room. Sometimes there are sports, and some days there are are potlucks, and other days there are kids' plays, and some days their might be musical groups setup.

Had a strap been used to secure the load, kids being allowed near the carts would've been a non-issue.


----------



## len (May 13, 2011)

gafftapegreenia said:


> The fact that these carts were stored openly in the gym is part of the problem. Simple and classic negligence.


 
Exactly. They never should have been left out in the open. Even if they were secured properly within the cart, the cart shouldn't have been exposed to the public. Ever.


----------



## cpf (May 13, 2011)

len said:


> Exactly. They never should have been left out in the open. Even if they were secured properly within the cart, the cart shouldn't have been exposed to the public. Ever.


 
But, as MNicolai noted, such a practice is quite likely to be impractical in some situations.


----------



## gafftapegreenia (May 14, 2011)

cpf said:


> But, as MNicolai noted, such a practice is quite likely to be impractical in some situations.


 
Even still, I can think back to my grade school days of having teachers/ lunch mom chaperons yelling at me "not to go near that".


----------



## chausman (May 14, 2011)

gafftapegreenia said:


> Even still, I can think back to my grade school days of having teachers/ lunch mom chaperons yelling at me "not to go near that".


 
Nw we're the people yelling at other people "not to go near that" 

I don't think that "we don't have a better place to put them" is a good excuse. That person is in YOUR space, near YOUR equipment, that in this industry, is usually (not always) something large/heavy/expensive/dangerous that little kids could very easily get hurt on. I've had middle schoolers get hurt by those big Wenger stage platforms because they can get very dangerous very quickly when someone is going to fast or doesn't get something exactly right. That's my opinion. Take it or leave it.

EDIT: And, if it is YOURs/your venues and you used it last, it is YOUR responsibility that it is put back safely. Ie. The platforms are secure and it is as far out of the way as possible.


----------



## MarshallPope (May 14, 2011)

The thing is, churches are somewhat of a different animal when it comes to this type of thing. Most of the time, there is no one on staff or really responsible for looking after equipment like this. It is simply purchased and then left to float around as it is needed. I'm not saying that this is OK, but it happens. All the time. As my church's resident tech person, I can't tell you how many times I have seen something placed somewhere temporarily and just left there, posing a very real hazard that just, innocently, no one seemed to think about. Regrettably, I have been guilty of this myself. As far as platforms go, it seems like it should be just fine to leave a unit over in the corner. After all, they are built to sit like that, right? No one will be doing anything they shouldn't over there, right? And then one falls over while you are pushing it at a quite slow speed. It happens very fast, and scares the s--t out of you. You don't realize the potential danger in it until you see what can happen yourself.

All of that rambling to say, it is hard to place blame for simply leaving something out in the open. The straps/whatever, now that is another issue.


----------



## DuckJordan (May 14, 2011)

What I have read is a lot of people are placing blame on individuals rather than the collective. If just one of those issues had been "solved" this wouldn't have been an issue.

If the parent(s)/Guardian(s) had been playing closer attention to their three year old it wouldn't have tipped over on them.

If the person who put the cart away had used a strap it wouldn't have tipped.

If the person who put the cart away put it somewhere behind a lockable door that the three year old didn't have access to it wouldn't have tipped.


It's not any one persons fault. A series of bad judgments cause a horrible accident. This is more of a be careful and remember to try and do things the safest you can. When I first joined here I thought of safety once in a while, but now I've come to understand that its not just safety for myself but safety for the oddest things to happen.

So instead of placing blame, look to see how you can prevent accidents like this one in your own places. Make sure you store your platform carts safely. Make sure children are in areas that are safe for them. And most of all make sure you're doing this safely yourself.


----------



## mstaylor (May 17, 2011)

Stageright have carts that store vertically but they have rails. We usually strap them but that is so we can load up the ramp, the rails keep them from flipping off.


----------



## MrsFooter (May 21, 2011)

Sounds like the same kind of platform that smashed my foot during an OAR out in college. They were going on the cart on their long edges and it slipped off the cart and on to the top of my foot. Hurt like hell and put me in a walking cast for a couple weeks. I can easily see how it could crush a three year old.


----------



## church (Jun 2, 2011)

DuckJordan said:


> It's not any one persons fault. A series of bad judgments cause a horrible accident.


 
here in Ontario it ultimately lies with whoever was running the daycare. Our greenbook requires management to "take all reasonable care to prevent an accident". The challange is the word "reasonable" what you or I think is reasonable frequently falls below the definition used by the Ministry of Labour. 

As someone involved in tech with a church I know how well meaning people can get themselves into situations where they are completly out of their area of knowledge and expertise. The worst example I remember - I finally refused to be involved after I failed to convince people not to proceed - was the Living Christmas tree cantata. One of the members brought in his scaffolding from his construction business and constructed a four level triagular shaped free standing structure from it. There were no safety rails and the boards were a hodge podge of 2X10 and plywood. They then attached real Christmas trees to it and placed chairs on it for the choir. The choir of 35 members which included people over sixty years old then proceeded to climb up step ladders onto this structure - the ladders were then removed. At various times the choir stood and sat down. There were no toe boards, nothing to stop a chair leg falling off the edge. This entire structure was placed on a raised wooden platform built from 2X4s and plywood. Fortunately nothing went wrong.


----------



## What Rigger? (Jun 10, 2011)

Deleted by me. 

Sounded like a ranting internet tough guy.


----------



## ruinexplorer (Jun 10, 2011)

Just as all things come down to letting someone else take care of it, this too could have been prevented by anyone who walked past those risers. My youngest just turned 9, but I can completely sympathize with the parents of that child. So much of our society is reactionary, we don't do anything until something happens. Guess what, then it's too late. Every time you walk into your theater/church/school/whatever, keep your eyes peeled for something that doesn't look right. If you don't feel comfortable/capable of doing something about it yourself, point it out to someone in charge and don't back down until they take care of it. You may get yourself thrown out of a job (personal experience), but in the end, you may have saved someones life. You will be recognized for your efforts (even if they try to tarnish your reputation because they ended up looking like the fool, again personal experience).


----------



## mstaylor (Jun 11, 2011)

I took a rigging/motor class and the rigging instructor uses what he calls the Oh S%!t method. If you walk in and see something that makes you say it, then get it fixed.


----------



## theatre4jc (Jun 20, 2011)

In college I was loading some 4x8 plats onto a cart. They were manufactured risers and the cart was made for them specifically. It had a small little metal piece that would flip down after the riser was in place to keep it from falling off. Me and my partner had a plat in hand and the third person lifted the metal lock out of the way to load one on the cart and for some unknown reason a platform on a cart with locked wheels on level ground started to fall. While holding the platform with two hands the one falling clipped me in the forearm and broke it. The one that fell was suppose to be "safetied in" but the locking clip failed somehow. Freak accident and hurt like crazy. Platforms on carts are just dangerous all the way around. My heart breaks for this family and this church.


----------

