Music fans in New York and around the country may be saddened to learn that a stagehand lost his life on the morning of April 6 while setting up a stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The stagehand fell 60 feet to his death while climbing scaffolding on one of the festival's many sound stages. A representative from the Indio Police Department said that he was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 9:30 a.m.
A statement released by the festival organizers reveals that the man had 20 years of experience and was the group's lead rigger when he died. Media accounts suggest that he was not wearing a safety harness at the time of the accident, but they do not indicate whether such a harness was available. Investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Riverside County Coroner's Office are trying to determine what led to the deadly fall.
The incident cast a pall over preparations for one of the nation's biggest annual music and arts festivals. The last tragedy to strike Coachella occurred in 2014 when an attendee died of a drug overdose.
When concertgoers are killed or injured and the events suggest that inadequate steps were taken to ensure their safety, personal injury attorneys with experience in premises liability cases may be able to pursue civil remedies on their behalf or on behalf of their dependent family members. Attorneys might also file lawsuits against event organizers if workplace accidents are caused by acts of gross negligence. This is behavior so reckless that injury or death became inevitable.
Source: UpRoxx, A Longtime Coachella Stagehand Died After An Accident While Setting Up For The Festival, Derrick Rossignol, April 8, 2019