Feds want circus operator fined for deadly tent collapse
Source: Associated Press via the Washington Post
By Holly Ramer | AP February 18 at 1:57 PM
CONCORD, N.H. — Federal safety officials have proposed more than $33,000 in fines against a Florida-based circus operator for a tent collapse that killed two people and injured dozens in New Hampshire.
Robert Young, 41, and his 6-year-old daughter, Annabelle, died Aug. 3 when a storm with winds up to 75 mph blew through the Lancaster Fairgrounds, toppling the tent just minutes after about 100 people had settled in to watch the first of two planned shows. Young and his daughter were from Concord, Vermont. Fifty other people were injured, including two circus employees.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Thursday that Sarasota-based Walker International Events failed to properly erect the tent and ignored severe weather and high-wind warnings from the National Weather Service. Inspectors determined that the company failed to use required tent stakes, properly anchor the stakes or replace damaged stakes.
The agency also found hazards that put circus employees at risk of electric shock, burns and cuts, such as the use of inappropriate electrical equipment in wet areas and a lack of fire extinguishers in areas where employees worked with open flames.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/feds-want-circus-operator-fined-for-deadly-tent-collapse/2016/02/18/c96c2d9a-d667-11e5-a65b-587e721fb231_story.html
Walker International Events failed to follow weather warnings, OSHA finds
UPDATED 1:49 PM EST Feb 18, 2016
CONCORD, N.H. —The circus tent that collapsed during a severe thunderstorm in Lancaster last year was not built correctly, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Thursday.
OSHA officials said their inspection found that the circus operator, Walker International Events, failed to follow repeated severe thunderstorm warnings from the National Weather Service.
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In its review, OSHA officials said they determined that the operators put their employees at risk of electric shock, burns, cuts and struck-by injuries. Officials said they discovered misused electrical equipment, lack of eye protection, unmarked exits and a lack of fire extinguishers inside the tent.
Walker International Events was cited on Feb. 1 and has 15 business days from the time it received the citations Feb. 4 to respond and to challenge the proposal.
Citation and Notation of Penalty, Walker International Events, Inc.
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