Vlaamse Opera in Belgium has been found guilty by a labour court of responsibility in the death of stagehand Stefaan Monsieur, who was hit by a 400-kilo chunk of backdrop in a production of Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de loin.
The incident, in October 2010, took place in Ghent. Monsieur, who was 58, left a wife and daughter.
The court found that the stagehands received insufficient training in handling a complex system of weights and counterweights. Vlaamse Opera were ordered to pay a fine of 55,000 Euros. It sounds as if they got off lightly.
photo:Vlaamse Opera
The fine seems very low. Hopefully the family will receive much more.