Birmingham venue fined after scenery weight hits worker
A company has been fined £400,000 after a stage manager was hit by a weight which fell from a high-level platform.
Birmingham City Council brought the prosecution after the incident on 11 January 2019 at the city-centre International Convention Centre (ICC). The owner of the venue, National Exhibition Centre Limited, earlier pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety legislation. The victim suffered a serious head injury, requiring extensive surgery. At Birmingham Magistrates' Court, the firm was fined £400,000 with costs of more than £8,800 and a £170 victim surcharge. The local authority said the freelance stage manager was hit on the head by a scenery counter-balance weight that had fallen from a high-level stage platform. Another person was also hit by the falling weight, but they were not seriously hurt, Birmingham City Council said. 'Horrific accident' The worker was assisting in the set-up of scenery ropes on the stage for a performance by Chinese dance company Shen Yun, when an 11.5kg (1.8 stone) weight fell from the platform 11 metres (36ft) above him. Health and safety inspectors found the measures in place on the stage's fly-platform were inadequate to deal with scenery weights. "We would like to express our sincere regret that this incident occurred," a spokeswoman for the NEC Group said. "Ensuring the safety of every person who works in or visits our venues is of the highest importance to us." She added the injured colleague had returned to work. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk