'Midnight Rider' Producers Cited By DOL For Safety Violations Resulting In ...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has formally cited Film Allman LLC - the production company making the Greg Allman biopic ' Midnight Rider' - for exposing its workers to grave risk, after camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed and eight other crew members were injured by an oncoming train in February while they were installing filming equipment on active train tracks and a trestle bridge in Wayne County, Ga., Reuters reported.
On Thursday, Aug. 14, DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited the production company - set up by director Randall Miller and producer Jody Savin - with 'one willful and one serious safety violation' for exposing its employees to hazards. The citation, which gives the firm 15 days to contest the finding, also comes with a recommended penalty of $74,900, according to Entertainment Weekly.
'Employers are responsible for taking the necessary precautions to protect workers' health and safety, and the entertainment industry is no exception,' Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels, said in a statement. 'It is unacceptable that Film Allman LLC knowingly exposed their crew to moving trains while filming on a live track and railroad trestle.'
Film Allman LLC did not obtain any permission from railroad company CSX to shoot at their tracks, but still went on to set up equipment at the area to film some scenes.
'Their failure to develop a safety plan to prevent such hazards, including obtaining permission from the rail owner to use the tracks for filming, led to the death of one crew member and injuries to eight other employees,' said Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA's Regional Administrator for the Southeast.
The 'willful' citation addresses the company's 'failure to provide safety measures to protect employees from moving trains' with 'intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health,' according to Deadline.
The 'serious' citation, on the other hand, is for exposing its employees to fall hazards while working on the Doctortown train trestle which did not have safety guardrails or other forms of fall protection measures.
'A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known,' according to the DOJ.
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