Disney has been fined $36,000 after a CAL/OSHA ruling related to the death of Juan Carlos Osorio on the set of Marvel Studios’ Wonder Man in February.
Osorio, 41, was a rigger working at Radford Studios in Studio City. He died on February 6 while collecting and removing lighting cable equipment high up on Stage 3.
Per a CAL/OSHA report, “As the crew walked along the catwalks, the employee (Osorio) stood on the weakened section of catwalk. Suddenly, and without warning, the ledger supporting the floorboard broke apart and collapsed as the employee was standing on this section of catwalk. The employee fell 41 feet and forcefully impacted the ground below.”
He died at the scene. The series was not shooting at the time.
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Osorio was a member of IATSE Local 728, and the union issued the following statement today:
IATSE Local 728 is grateful to Cal/OSHA for their commitment to making our workplaces safer. The loss of Spike was and is needless as everyone should go home safely after a day’s work. While we recognize and appreciate the work that all the major studios have done in retrofitting their soundstages since this tragedy, there are many non-Union facilities that lack the resources and oversight to make this possible. We remain steadfast in our commitment to the safety of our members, and holding our employers to their federally mandated duty of a workplace that is safe and free from hazards.
Here is the entire description of the incident from the CAL/OSHA report:
At 6:50 a.m. on February 6, 2024, an employee was working as an engineering technician for a television and film production company. The employee was working with a crew which included Employee #1 and Employee #2. The crew was working on wooden catwalks located in Stage 3. The crew was collecting and removing lighting cable equipment that was hanging from the wooden platforms. One platform was accessible via a wooden staircase that continued upward and was connected to the other wooden catwalk platforms. The walking surface of these catwalks consisted of wooden floorboards of various sizes, including as 2-inch by 6-inch and 2-inch by 8-inch boards. These floorboards were supported underneath by 2-inch by 4-inch wooden supports (sometimes referred to as “ledgers”). A particular section of this catwalk had a deteriorated ledger that was not bearing the 4-inch by 12-inch underlying support beam, but instead was improperly nailed to a roof truss. The deteriorated ledger was weakened likely due to age, environmental conditions and repeated stress loads over many decades. As the crew walked along the catwalks, the employee stood on the weakened section of catwalk. Suddenly, and without warning, the ledger supporting the floorboard broke apart and collapsed as the employee was standing on this section of catwalk. The employee fell 41 feet and forcefully impacted the ground below. The employee was pronounced dead by responding emergency medical services shortly after the fall. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, neck and legs.