Hollywood Workplace Injury Statistics
Things can go wrong on film and television sets: a foot slips off a ladder, a stunt goes awry, a finger catches a blade meant to cut wood or shape props. Learning exactly how often workers are hurt or killed is difficult, with government data capturing only some of the accidents.
Below is a snapshot of set injuries assembled by The Associated Press, demonstrating the dangers faced by workers on both sides of the camera:
- Serious film and television set accidents in United States, 1990-2014: At least 194.
- Fatalities in US, 1990 to 2014: At least 43.
- Fatalities internationally, 2000 to 2016: At least 37.
- Fatal US accidents investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 1990 to 2014: 30.
- Criminal prosecutions: 1
- OSHA-investigated accidents that were union productions: 145, or 78 percent.
- Accidents that resulted in employer fines: 105.
- Accidents in which fines were reduced: 49, or 47 percent.
- Accidents that occurred in California: 170.
- Jobs that saw the most serious accidents: Carpenters and stunt workers, with 19 apiece.
- Most common injury: Fractures (55 accidents).
- Number of amputations recorded by OSHA: 25
- Highest recorded fine, 1990 to 2013: $84,000 for the 1993 shooting death of actor Brandon Lee, later reduced to $55,000.
- Highest unreduced fine, 1990 to 2013: $61,445 for the 2012 drowning death of a worker cleaning a tank during the making of “The Lone Ranger” film. (A $74,900 fine for the death of an assistant camera operator on the film “Midnight Rider” is being contested.).
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