Health and Safety In The Workplace — The Case of Alec Baldwin and Halyna Hutchins

Procedures overlooked. An unnecessary death

By Oly AwambaPublished 3 years ago • 3 min read

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

October 21, 2021. The day Halyna Hutchins died.

Various reports of a fatal shooting on the set of the movie Rust have shocked the world. The 911 call mentioned the shooting of two people, so we held our breaths. Until correct reports stated that just one person had passed from the shooting. The other person shot was recuperating at the hospital.

What We Know So Far

On Thursday, the 21st of October, the cast and crew of the movie ‘Rust’ halted filming to go for a lunch break. The movie plot involves the use of prop guns and blank ammo. These were to be put into a safe inside their prop truck during this time.

The crew returned just before 1 pm, to continue shooting a scene in a church at the Bonanza Creek ranch. A prop gun was called out as cold — without live rounds and handed to the actor, Alec Baldwin for the next scene.

Baldwin was practicing a cross draw as the camera crew put the filming gear in order when they heard a loud pop.

Set cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins stumbled backward clutching her midsection. Film director, Joel Souza, saw her bleeding and noticed that he was as well. From his shoulder. The crew immediately called 911. Tried to control the bleeding as best they could. 42-year-old Hutchins was airlifted to the UNM Hospital Albuquerque, where she died.

They rushed Joel Souza to a nearby hospital in Santa Fe, where he was treated. He was released the following day.

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According to the World Health Organization, occupational health deals with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has a strong focus on the primary prevention of hazards.

Some of the ILO’s core principles of OSH include:

— Work should take place in a safe working environment

— Conditions of work should be consistent with workers’ well-being

and human dignity.

Safety should be the principal thing on employers’ minds for their employees.

I work in the oil and gas sector and find the HSE officer as annoying as the next person, but I never interfere in his process. If he decides to check my work-station for potential hazards every other week. If he organizes training on trips, slip, and fall, every six months. If he photographs me whenever I am not wearing my hard hat while working under a suspended object. To use as an example of a man-made risk.

It is my life and those of our colleagues he is trying to protect.

As far as I know, HSE is an integral part of every organization. No matter the industry. The ILO estimates that 2.3 million people around the world succumb to work-related accidents or diseases every year, corresponding to 6000 deaths every single day.

What Should Have Happened

The team comes back to the set after a sumptuous lunch. They take the prop guns out from the prop truck. The armorer manually inspects all the rounds to make sure they are blanks. Hands them over to other trained crew members to inspect same.

Then, the gun is pronounced as cold and handed to the actor to practice while the filming crew concludes the set arrangement.

Filming for day 12 of the planned 21 ends and everyone goes home. Safe.

What Happens Next

One word. Lawsuits.

The Head Electrician on the movie has filed a lawsuit naming over 20 defendants, including Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer.

Serge Svetnoy is alleging negligence that resulted in severe emotional distress after the bullet narrowly missed him, and he watched his friend die.

It is also important to note that a half-dozen camera crew workers had walked off the set to protest unfavorable working conditions that fateful Thursday.

So, we expect more lawsuits to follow. We know more will come. But, it will never bring back the mother of one to her dear son.

There should never be complacency where weapons are involved!