Stage safety in the spotlight after Downsview stage collapse
Posted June 17, 2012 9:02 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After a frightening and deadly stage collapse at Downsview Park left one man dead Saturday, the issue of stage safety has been thrust back into the spotlight.
There have been a number of high-profile stage collapses in North America over the past few years.
Last July the stage collapsed at Bluesfest in Ottawa after a storm moved in. The band who had been performing, Cheap Trick, had just left the stage.
Luckily nobody was killed in that incident.
That wasn’t the case a month later in August, however, when a stage collapsed in Indiana just 20 minutes before Sugarland was set to perform.
That incident killed seven people and left dozens others injured. The weather was blamed for that incident, as well.
This is the second Toronto Radiohead concert to be cancelled at the last moment.
Their August 2003 show was cancelled in the wake of the massive power-outage that hit Canada and U.S. Northeast.
Those who had tickets for the Radiohead show can get refunds where they bought them.
It has yet to be determined if weather was a factor in Saturday’s collapse. At the time of the incident only light winds were reported.
Ontario Ministry of Labour officials will be investigating the circumstances surrounding the collapse on Sunday.
