Stagehand hurt on Twain’s new show struggles to recover

Matthew Moore sits in his Pahrump home, his arm in a cast and his neck in a brace.

The 35-year-old stagehand remembers nothing about how he ended up in this position.

He just knows it has something to do with that day working on the set of "Still the One," the Shania Twain show at Caesars Palace.

"Everybody was being pretty safe. I was getting comfortable with the crew," he said, "and then one day I woke up in a hospital bed."

Moore, 35, is one of two stagehands who have fallen into the stage's two-story loading pit in the past 14 months, prompting investigations and fines from state regulators, and raising questions about workplace safety.

Greg Michele, a stagehand who said he reported the first accident to the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said that AEG Live, which managed the set, didn't take workplace safety seriously.

"Does somebody need to die before you start taking it serious?" Michele said. "Occupational safety just doesn't seem like a priority these days. It's just sad."

AEG Live said in a statement that safety is a top priority, and in the Colosseum's 10-year history, there have been only two accidents related to the stage lift.

But in at least one of the falls, the company wasn't practicing its own safety precautions.

PREVENTABLE ACCIDENTS?

There were several breakdowns on Oct. 25, 2011, the first day on the set of "America's Got Talent," a televised talent show.

No safety meeting was held.

The lighting was dim.

And, perhaps most critically, there was no barrier around the lift used to move equipment and props from the basement to the stage.

When the lift is lowered, it creates a 20-by-20-foot hole in the middle of the stage.

Company policy was to have one person guard each side of the pit when the lift is lowered, but on this day they had only two.

When an audio subcontractor started walking across the stage around 5 p.m., the conditions were ripe for an accident.

"They didn't even have enough people on crew to watch the hole," said Michele, who no longer is working on the Colosseum set. "They didn't put up cones or stanchions around the barrier."

As workers were using the lift to lower risers into the basement, one carpenter yelled at the stagehand to stop walking.

By then, it was too late. The man took one more step and fell into the then-12 foot hole, landing on his feet on the lift.

His right leg and ankle shattered.

Observers noted his ankle was twisted and bleeding, and blood stained his socks and sneakers.

He was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

OSHA inspectors noted a series of problems, including that AEG Live didn't follow its own workplace safety program, which included analyzing and explaining any hazards on set.

"We didn't talk about anything," one carpenter wrote to OSHA investigators.

The state fined AEG Live $7,600, then reduced it to $5,760, records show. The company promised that when the lift was lowered, they would place physical barriers around the pit, announce on a bullhorn when the lift was going to be lowered, sound an alarm and place spotters around the hole.

The company passed a follow-up inspection several months later.

AEG Live said that "all safety mechanisms were in place" when Moore, a stagehand hired by a subcontractor to handle wireless microphones, fell into the pit Nov. 19.

What Moore does remember is that during his few days on the set, he sensed safety was emphasized. He noticed the bullhorn was used when the pit was lowered.

"They don't normally do that on a stage," said Moore, who has worked on stages in Pahrump, Las Vegas and around the world since he was 16.

But he said he did notice that the rope stanchion - similar to the ones you see in lines for movie theaters and airport security gates - was sometimes used and sometimes not.

He doesn't know what was being used the day he fell. He just remembers waking up in a bed at University Medical Center with a broken arm, herniated discs in his neck and swelling in his brain. He can barely see out of his right eye.

He was so confused when he woke up that he believed he had been in a plane crash. Friends told him he fell 30 feet into the pit.

"They're amazed I survived," he said of UMC's doctors.

OSHA is investigating the incident. A statement from AEG Live said that safety of guests and employees is its top priority, and it would adopt needed changes.

"The Colosseum at Caesars Palace will continue to implement any and all new safety precautions needed to continue to ensure the highest safety standards at the venue," the statement said.

DANGEROUS WORK

Moore is speaking out to bring attention to the issue. He didn't know someone else had fallen at the same stage earlier.

He acknowledges that stage work is not the safest business.

"It's a very dangerous field we work in," he said. "It's very easy to make a misstep and fall."

But experts say it doesn't have to be that way.

Monona Rossol, founder of Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety Inc., a not-for-profit group in New York City that advocates theater safety, said the industry has a long way to go to catch up to the safety standards on construction sites.

"If you start collecting this data, we're probably in worse shape, by far, than the construction industry," Rossol said. "This is not a safe industry. It just looks that way."

She said that theaters - starting in grade school - have traditionally resisted or ignored common-sense measures designed to protect performers and stagehands.

"They ignore the laws. They ignore common sense. They just do, and they get away with it," Rossol said.

The first thing theaters should do is evaluate the risks of the performances, discuss the risks with employees and find ways to mitigate them. That's how theaters can pull off daring acts, such as the Cirque du Soleil shows, safely night in, night out, she said.

Both Rossol and Janet Sellery, a former stage manager who now provides safety consulting, know people who have suffered critical injuries from falls.

"We have hazards in this industry, and I don't think we're doing a good enough job of taking care of them," said Sellery, based in Ontario.

For Moore, his return to work is uncertain. Doctors have told him he will need a neck brace for months. He is relying on a friend to perform household chores and run errands, and his trade union has provided a lot of support, he said.

The good news is that vision in his right eye should return. But without employment, he is in danger of losing his modest Pahrump home. He has hired a lawyer.

Before the accident, he was in the process of training one of his dogs to become a service animal.

"I think she'll be spending a lot of time with me for a while."

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781.