Atlanta’s Fox Theater Injuries Recall Past Theater Safety Failures, and Serious Injuries and Wrongful Deaths

Having seen past injuries and deaths occur because theater safety principles were disregarded in using orchestra pits in Atlanta, our Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog attorneys shuddered upon reading that it had happened again in Atlanta. A 17 year-old dancer wearing a Panda costume reportedly suffered critical injuries when she fell some 12 feet into the lowered orchestra pit of the Fox Theater, during a performance of the “Nutcracker” by the Atlanta Ballet.
The orchestra pit contained no orchestra, but was apparently lowered to this great depth anyway, without “fall protection” measures that were sufficient to prevent such a long fall by the young dancer, a high-school student. As it should, OSHA is reportedly investigating the incident.
For our attorneys, it brought back lessons that should have been learned in the theater world when a young boy died after a fall in 2000, through a concealed opening into the unprotected orchestra pit at the Atlanta Civic Center. He survived in a coma for more than a year as he was cared for by his parents, two of our most remarkable clients ever.
The evidence we gathered in that case showed that theater safety principles are too often ignored, until they result in life-threatening injuries or deaths. At the Civic Center, it was most disturbing to learn that a man had died before our young client, when the man fell into the unprotected orchestra pit from the stage.
It was also shocking for us to discover that two children had fallen through the same opening into the orchestra pit in 1995–and yet the orchestra pit was still left unprotected. Our theater safety experts documented that such injuries and deaths are far too foreseeable–and avoidable–when proper attention to basic safety rules is practiced.
While the settlement of that case at the Civic Center was reportedly one of the largest ever paid by the City of Atlanta (and there were other defendants as well), the family’s nightmare was in no way erased.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the young dancer, and we wish her a speedy recovery. We hope that theater professionals heed the lessons of theater safety to protect performers and patrons from preventable injuries.