Johnson says the inquest into his son’s death identified safety gaps, and one of those surrounds the construction of scaffolding. Jason Gordon is on the board of directors for the Event Safety Alliance of Canada. He says there are no training requirements needed to build a scaffold platform or to erect a stage and rig audio and visual equipment.
“That’s a big gap that we see that could be fixed, is to have a training standard for them to follow.” Gordon says they have formed the Scott Johnson Working Group to create guidance material which would be used to train and certify workers to construct scaffolds and build stages.
“I would like to see that actually become regulatory, so that we would have regulations that speak to training of riggers and training scaffolders,” says Gordon, who points to the United Kingdom, and Johnson’s home country, as a place that has a certification program that must be completed to legally construct scaffolds.
This is one of the top priorities for the organization, but as it grows and develops Gordon says the goal of the alliance is to improve safety at all kinds of events across Canada, not just concerts.
“The mission statement is to bring people organizations and businesses together in a shared mission of making the health, well-being, and safety of everyone the priority at Canadian events.”
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