Camera support & safety... Here comes OSHA

[Randall Weatherington]

Yesterday's debacle with the cable camera at the NASCAR race just underscores why professional camera support HAS to be over built.
For those of you who missed it, the pull rope for the cable camera, touted to travel up to 90 mph along the front stretch of the racetrack broke, and fell onto the track.
It also dropped down onto spectators. As one of the race cars snagged it, not only did it damage race cars, but also whipped away from the spectators, injuring some of them.
The camera had been up for about two weeks as there was also racing last week that was covered by the sports network.

Questions will be: How often was the equipment inspected.
With sudden stops and reversals of direction, was the rope even qualified to do the job?
Was there sufficient testing at the speeds presented?
What is the durability of the equipment when left in the elements for two weeks or longer?

OSHA will definitely become involved, and you know there will be lawsuits.
NASCAR will probably never allow a suspended camera system over the actual track, as well as over spectators again.
The company that built the cable camera system is probably going to lose some of their customers, and will be a very hard sell in the future, if they stay in business.

The bottom line is that one can just not short cut safety, nor good, solid camera support.
Every time I see a post where a person has bought one of the RED cameras, then is looking for the "cheapest" tripod or other camera support, I just wince.
That "cheapest" camera support may turn out to be very costly very quickly.

 

[Elsie N]

I'm thinking the failure may have been down to human error. Yes, Fox Sports and the Charlotte track should take this as a teachable moment, but without govt. coming in and mandating another measure for what is probably a once in a hundred year event.

I'm probably breaking some law on the books somewhere for making the above statement... and since ignorance of the law is not a proper defense, I hope no one who reads this will turn me in if indeed, I am a lawbreaker.

 

[Randall Weatherington]

Yep. I agree with Elsie that there will undoubtedly be human error involved in this situation.
Elsie, I fail to see how you can be breaking the law for expressing an opinion... unless you are a party persuant to action, and are under a gag order.

I am reminded of a story about a sports cameraman who was covering a race, and had his camera cables dangling over the wall.
A videographer friend of mine was shooting just a few feet away, called his attention to the cables, but got a reply that was pretty much "mind your own business."
You guessed it. A race car snagged the cables. The cameraman was left shooting an imaginary "air" camera while watching the real camera being dragged down the track behind the race car.

What could possibly go wrong?
How much time does one have so that I can run down the list.

As far as general camera support goes, think of the camera as a dog, and the support as the tail.
Just to eliminate unwanted vibrations, never mind the safety aspect, one really wants the tail to be wagging the dog.

 

[Brian F Kobylarz]

Some initial background info:

System was supplied by CAMCAT (based in Austria).

The rope that failed was less than a year old. Made from a material named "Dyneema".
Dyneema is a synthetic which has the highest strength-to-weight ratio in the world (according to OnlineRopes.com).
Comparing the equivalent weight, it is about 15 times stronger than steel.

According to Fox Sports, the rope that failed was certified for a breaking strength of 9,300 pounds and was only bearing less than 900 pounds of force during the race. It had been factory tested and certified by the manufacturer. The system itself is certified by Germany based TUV Health & Safety Group which is highly respected internationally. Tested again on receipt here in the states.
System was used at the Daytona 500 and the prior week's Sprint All-Star race.

No matter what the cause of the failure in this specific case, it does demonstrate that no amount of planning will totally eliminate the possibility of an accident occurring.

Thankfully, no fatalities.