On the sixth anniversary of the tragic death of British cameraman Mark Milsome and two years after the death of Halyna Hutchins, a survey has revealed that almost three-quarters of UK below-the-line crew feel their safety has been compromised at work.
Research carried out by Bectu and the Mark Milsome Foundation questioned film and TV crews about their views on training and health and safety protocols on British sets finding that there has been little improvement since Milsome died following an accident filming for the BBC and Netflix Rise of the Dark Earth.
Nearly three-quarters of the 733 respondents said they “felt their or a colleague’s safety was compromised at work,” although there was an overwhelming consensus that safety training and protocols need to be improved and that production companies should take responsibility. ultimate responsibility for problems. .
Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of respondents identified real concerns about people being promoted to positions of responsibility without adequate security experience or qualifications, and there were fears about public disclosure, with all those who reported incidents asking to remain anonymous out of fear. of compromising the future. job.
Bectu and the Foundation have called on the industry to commit to ensuring that everyone working on a production has completed a Level 2 Production Safety Passport and that everyone in supervisory roles has completed a Level 3.5 Passport. More generally, they called on the industry to set standards on safety training and work together to find solutions to a culture of long working hours, which in turn has an impact on safety.
Bectu national secretary Spencer MacDonald said many staff had “never had even the most basic training or advice on safe working”.
Mark Milsome Foundation President Samantha Wainstein added: “Mark’s death serves as a poignant reminder of the critical importance of strictly adhering to health and safety guidelines. The Mark Milsome Foundation was created in his memory, and one of the central aspects of our mission is to ensure that no one on a film set dies from filming again.”
The research took place two years after the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died on the set of Alec Baldwin’s film. Rustleading to great introspection in the sector.
Milsome died in November 2017 in Ghana while filming Rise of the Dark Earth. An inquest three years later concluded that he had died an “accidental death”, but that “shortly before the maneuver was carried out, the risk of Mr Milsome being injured or fatally injured was not effectively recognised, assessed, communicated or managed”. .
