Accidental Injuries in a Show

[Daniel Forlano]

[Steven Ragatz]

Wow, that really sucks. I'm sorry to hear that 'cause I know how much those free-standing ladders hurt when they hit.

It's always risky to have a guest handle your props, particularly potentially dangerous ones. Hindsight is 20/20 - maybe there is some way that you can modify the bit so that you keep it in but keep it safe for the audience and volunteer?

When I did juggling circle shows, I would put down a rope to mark off the stage area. I liked the idea it because it clearly defined where the audience was supposed to stand, and it gave me a (slightly) more formal space to work. But most importantly, I would rope off a circle with a radius a little bit more than the length of the tallest unicycle that I used. That way, if I idled in the middle, I could fall in any direction and land just in front of the first row (made for a good effect on the dismount!)

It sounds like the injured guest is being a good sport - let's hope she remains so. Let this be a reminded to all of us that liability insurance is a necessary evil. Please post to the board if anything comes of your situation. Best of luck.

Steven Ragatz

[Jim]

[quote]Originally posted by Daniel Forlano:
<strong>My ladder fell on someone today.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Did you mention to her that you had a $2,000,000.00 audience insurance policy? If so, the neck brace, EMTs and the ride on the ambulance will look really good for her in court. If she plays her cards right, she could collect bigtime if she wanted to.

And then all of our premiums will quadruple next year.

It sounds like she was a good sport and wasn't the suing type... luckily. And I do hope she's OK. If the ladder had hit her head, I'd have all kinds advice for her.

Lesson learned, I hope. And by posting here, maybe others will learn by your accident.

Yikes. Be careful out there, folks.

[Daniel Forlano]

[Rex Boyd]

A couple of years ago a volunteer of mine hurt his knee while on stage with me dancing about. He was obviously in a lot of pain so I had him sit down and replaced him with another volunteer. I told the injured guy to wait for me after the show and I would see that he was alright. I didn't see him afterwards however, Apparantly he went to see the First Aid crew at the festival who told him not to walk and that he should go to the hospital. He walked home instead of listening to their advice and caused a lot more injury to his knee.

Because I am insured, a lawyer representing the insurance company went to court when this guy later wanted to claim against my insurance. They fought against paying him on the grounds that he went against the First Aid advice to cause himself more harm. Also even though the injury was clearly as a result of him being involved in my show, it was also argued that he had his own free will to do or not do any activity that I asked him to do (ie, dancing and jumping). If for example I had tripped while dancing and then fallen on top of him to cause injury it might have been a different matter. So in the end the guy was not awarded any compensation I don't think. I wasn't even at the trial.

Moral of the story: accidents do happen, even if it is not an inherently dangerous activity taking place. Make sure you take extreme care not to injure a member of the public. And just in case something unexpected does happen, make sure you've got some insurance to cover you.

I have also seen several years ago a case where a performer stood on the shoulders of a volunteer as he does every show. I myself saw the volunteer walk away as normal afterwards apparently OK as normal. But then because we were working at an enourmous festival with an enourmous budget (ie big Rock bands etc. ), a few days later this guy was claiming that he had been injured during the show. Maybe he was injured. Maybe he just saw an opportunity for easy bucks. I'm not really sure which I think is more likely. Anyway get some insurance if you can just in case. Unless you can afford a good lawyer and a huge settlement of course. ( no the insurance is cheaper )


Rex

[jugglermatt1]

Weve been running lots of open workshops all summer , amazingly its been hot almost everyday , and as a result , a lot of the children are running around with no shoes on , which is fine until they start climbing on the unicycles and demand a go .No shoes and unicycles is an accident waiting to happen , so beware .