LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WAY
(Is This in Store for Richmond, VA)
March 5, 2010

As a safety consultant and premises’ liability expert I am often called upon to evaluate or opine on incidents where people and/or property are injured and/or damaged as a result of other people’s inadequate care or negligence. Or in other words, I find out what went wrong. In doing so, I travel down many paths and gather lots of information and evidence regarding the what, when, how and where an incident occurs.

Recently I had an opportunity to attend a training seminar conducted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Amusement Ride Safety bureau, held in Grantville, Pennsylvania. The seminar covered every aspect of amusement ride safety, which is heavily premises’ liability related. This year a track was added on Haunted Attractions. It included night clubs, dance halls, auditorium, arenas and just about every type of public assembly place imaginable.

The keynote speaker was Dave Kane. Unless you are from Rhode Island most likely most likely you might not know him. He is the father of the youngest person killed in the Station Night Club a few years ago. In this particular fire 100 people were killed and over 200 were injured as the result of negligence on the part of many people.

The facts of this case were a night club run by two brother that had been decorated with flammable material where live music with pyrotechnics were used. The original certificate of occupancy was for much less than the over 400 people in the building that night. Make no mistake; the brothers who owned and operated this night club are ultimately responsible for the man made disaster. As a result of the massive and multi-jurisdictional investigation it revealed failure on not only the owners, but also the Building Official, Fire Marshall, other city Officials and the band. The band member who pushed the button for the fireworks stepped up and took responsibility for his actions. He served a few months in jail. No one else served any time. Civil lawsuits and their settlements are pending.

Let’s apply this to the situation right her in Richmond, Virginia. We have people promoting teen parties at various locations across the city in buildings that are not approved for that type of use. In fact we don’t even have a current night club ordinance on the books to enforce any laws that we may or may not have regulating these situations. The police say they are short staffed, over worked and not well versed in the social networks where these events are promoted.

We add to this fact that teenagers are being brought into the city from all over the metro area. Others are being dropped off by their parents while others are telling their parents they are out with friends or at the movies. Add some alcohol, motor vehicles, attitudes, guns and you get an unbelievable formula for disaster, all man made.

For the most part the Richmond Police top brass are being tight lipped. Just like they were a few years ago when my neighbor was murdered in broad daylight on West Broad Street near the DMV. Many times I have asked why do you keep the information to yourself. Times they are a changing. Electronic notification via email and messaging service is the latest in many cities. The more eyes and ears we have listening and looking for things the more responsive we can be to dangerous situations such as these teenage parties. Hey the teens are using it, why not the people trying to prevent tragedy?

Just like in the Rhode Island Station Night Club incident we can ultimately indentify the responsible party, which are the parents and they should be held responsible. However the rest of us have a moral obligation to participate in preventing these catastrophic events.







http://www.krmgoup.com