Jib Collapse

[Dave Isern]

Ouch!!!

I head of a nasty incident in NYC a few years ago.

no excuses......

D

[Peter Abraham]

When I was working as an Operator, I was on the set of a soap opera in NYC. There was a large party scene. Dozens of extras in addition to most of the cast. Standing near the rig, arm in vest, my arm draped around the arm in the traditional posture of " yeah, I'm ready / I'm holding my arm from flaying about " posture.

 

Someone spoke to me and went to hand me something and for a still unknown reason, I reached with my right hand. Let go of the arm. Which swung away slowly, but not too slowly. Then the room full of actors hears, " OUCH !". There is an extra, holding her hand to her cheek. The arm had hit her in the face.

 

Not a sound in the room. Stage manager had her sent downstairs to ice her face and I awaited what might have been poor outcome.

 

She came back about an hour later. Looked okay, having iced her face. Re-made up, she came up to me. I apologized for the incident and with plenty of people looking on, I said- " Tell me if I need to have someone contact your agent regarding this accident". Code for: Are you going to sue me or not?

 

She shook her head and said she was fine, her face didn't hurt. No swelling we could see. She was gracious about it, and I never heard another word.

 

She could easily have sat down, held her face and demanded an ambulance. I got lucky. It was after that incident that I arranged the Liability policy with Walter P. Dolle. Have it to this day.

 

So, no true injury from a Steadicam but a small injury that could have become a litigation situation.

 

Live and learn.

 

Best to all,

 

Peter

[Mark Schlicher]

There's an old thread about making sure one is on the studio's or production's insurance cert, etc.

 

I wonder how this current discussion about having your own policy dovetails with the advice given in that thread.

 

I assume that if the production has a liability and loss/damage policy that covers my equipment, then my coverage is secondary. My policy only becomes relevant if the production's policy is inadequate or absent, yes?

 

Curious for real-world experiences, particularly from the perspective of work outside of the big companies.

[Janice Arthur]

Mark;

 

Yes, clearly we should be in the secondary position for liability etc but it doesn't always mean just because the company/job is big that's the case.

 

There are horror stories of operators being "unsupported" by big companies too. One operator said his FF got dropped and it was a $300 repair and he chased them for months and they wouldn't pay for it. Big, big company and they simply didn't want to pay for it, he paid for it.

 

Every single job these days is working on a new paradigm. They are counting every penny and watching the budget process ever closer.

 

If they can save a nickel they will and if it means some kind of a loss on gear or location expenses because a grip broke a sliding door in a house or any number of other things they'll try to do it.

 

The small shoots don't even pretend to have coverage for lots of stuff and only get the insurance someone "makes" them get.

 

(In my mind reality shows have even more liability with all the uncleared people/streets, uncontrolled locations, shoe-string budgets)

 

Someonelse could add but that's my take on the new world we're in.

 

(If it gets down to suing someone remember they never sue to homeless guy, they sue whomever has assets. If its you or XYZ Pictures it doesn't matter they sue everyone and let the courts decide.)

 

JA

[Alfeo Dixon SOC]

They replied with 'You should have your own insurance' on the night before the shoot after days of emails back and forth trying to sort it out as at the time it was my first potential 35mm gig.

 

You can probably guess I didn't do the job.

I had one of these in the past and simply told them, I sure do... BUT, for me to use my policy for your job I will have to charge you full rate plus a 10% surcharge for covering them.... and they agreed. It was still cheaper for them to go this route than to pay me and buy production insurance to cover my gear. They owned the camera package and no dolly, so I was the only requirement for a cert.

[Janice Arthur]

Alfeo;

 

In this climate I'd make sure that the only risk I had to my equipment policy would be for my equipment in that situation.

 

I would NEVER let someone buy access to my Liability policy. Liability has a kind of unending $ sign on it.

Assigning it to a third party would be probably illegal and not recognized by your insurer and therefore void; secondly it would leave you open to an enormous risk that you are not controlling in any way shape or form = disaster!

 

Just one more point.

 

JA

[Alfeo Dixon SOC]

In this climate I'd make sure that the only risk I had to my equipment policy would be for my equipment in that situation.

 

I would NEVER let someone buy access to my Liability policy. Liability has a kind of unending $ sign on it.

Assigning it to a third party would be probably illegal and not recognized by your insurer and therefore void; secondly it would leave you open to an enormous risk that you are not controlling in any way shape or form = disaster!

Thanks for clearing that up Janice... thats exactly what it was. Not assigned as third party. I only charged them for not providing me coverage under their policy and me using my own policy as primary for covering me and my gear, not their gear.