Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: industrial accidents

This is topic industrial accidents in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=010967

Posted by Boris Sorokoumov (Member # 4629) on 07-19-2011, 07:43 AM:

Does anyone know any scary stories about industrial accidents in the cinema?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-19-2011, 08:33 AM:

During the nitrate era, cinema staff and customers were cremated on a regular basis. Fire remains a serious risk afterwards, as it does in any enclosed space in which lots of people are packed in closely. I remember reading a news story about a fire in a cinema in India that killed a significant number of people a couple of years ago, but can't find it on a Google search. If I remember correctly the main cause turned out to be that some builders had left a bag of cement leaning against an emergency exit door. It then rained, the cement got wet, it set (thereby cementing the door shut), and then a few months later, no-one could get out when the place caught fire.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-19-2011, 08:43 AM:

The "fire proof" Iriquois Theater burned in Chicago in 1903 and claimed over 600. Bodies of those trying to flee were piled ten high by still locked exit doors. There is much about this on the net so just google it. This fire led to the very strict fire codes in public buildings adopted by most large cities in the USA.

Posted by Boris Sorokoumov (Member # 4629) on 07-19-2011, 09:46 AM:

Oh, sorry, guys, I was referring to an injury in the projection room, such as electric shocks, or some mechanical injury. What the risks projectionist.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 07-19-2011, 10:57 AM:

In the dim and fortunately distant days of carbon arc, A friend was training an apprentice for the union in one of the downtown theaters. After what seemed to be an adequate time the new guy was allowed to adjust the trim after a reel. He pulled the arc switch and immediately opened the lamp and grabbed the still white hot positive carbon with his fingers. Burned instantly to the bone he was rushed to the hospital only 4 blocks away. He made a full recovery but decided against a career in the booth.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-19-2011, 11:32 AM:

I remember the first time I saw a carbon arc lamphouse in action (at the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, in 2003 or 2004). It was exactly as you describe apart, thankfully, from the 'grabbed the still white hot positive carbon' bit. However, as soon as he'd opened up the lamphouse immediately after killing the power I took an instinctive few steps back. The other projectionist there giggled: of course, do that with a xenon lamphouse (and without wearing a safety mask), and you risk the bulb blowing up in your face. But of course with a carbon arc lamphouse, assuming you keep your paws off the business ends, there's no risk.

Has there ever been a documented case of a serious injury or fatality caused by an exploding xenon bulb as the result of mishandling it? I've never come across any reference to any. I do wonder if the conversion to digital cinema might increase that risk. From my first day in a projection booth it was drilled into me that xenon bulbs are something you don't mess with or cut corners in handling. But I've got a sort of gut feeling that film projection is an inherently more physically safety conscious profession/enviromnent. There are lots of fast-moving and sharp parts around, you're working in low light, and poor film handling can cause serious economic damage as well as to health (e.g. accidentally scratching a print). In the IT world, the safety is more virtual: for example, the computer equivalent of accidentally putting a deep emulsion scratch down all eight reels of a 70mm print of 2001 might be accidentally rewriting the master boot record of a HDD thinking you were talking to a different drive letter. That's a problem if you need to show the 'film' in an hour's time, but it won't put you in any physical danger. Yet d-cinema projectors have the same high-pressure xenon arc bulbs as film projectors do/did, and I wonder if, going forward, the cinema site staff will be properly trained to know that opening up one of these things is something you really don't want to do if you don't know what's in there. Just thinking aloud...

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-19-2011, 12:32 PM:

quote: Boris Sorokoumov
What the risks projectionist.

Ties getting caught in the sprockets of the projectors. [Razz]

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 07-19-2011, 01:02 PM:

There was a story around Local 224 in DC that one of the long haired hippie projectionists got his hair caught in the projector and had a hunk of his scalp pulled out. Could be urban legend.

If you search the Boxoffice archives up until the 60's you will find many references to nitrate film booth fires. I'm sure more than a few resulted in injured projectionists.

I knew one guy whose arm caught the edge of a platter at just the wrong angle and ended up with a bunch of stiches.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-19-2011, 06:45 PM:

No major accidents to report on in my 32 years. A couple of electric shocks is about all and those were never more than 120 volts. Never had a lamp explode in my hands. Worst thing from moving heavy gear over the years is my problematic back. I let the younger generation do the heavy moving these days.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-19-2011, 07:26 PM:

You are right about digital (or any equipment that has no training.)

I have researched over the years the urban legend that the "bulb exploded, propelling the lens into the audience, killing a man." No truth.

One that i can personally attest to: In 1971, Jon, a very elderly Union projectionist in Louisville, had no right thumb. I would never ask, but he volunteered that he had been cleaning the #1 Western Electric Universal Base when a "bad patch" went through #2. When he turned suddenly, the cleaning rag wrapped around the square projector vertical drive shaft & pulled off his thumb.

He finished off his shift, 4 hours, before he went to the hospital. Blood formed a wye between the machines and the rewinder. I know this to be true; I know the man and the booth. Louis

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 07-19-2011, 07:33 PM:

A local owner of a 3 screen dinner theatre had a lamp that he had to open and thump the circuit board with his finger in order to make the bulb strike. His 3 Centurys were in terrible condition but he never wanted to spend the $$ to do more than get one more run out of them so I saw him a lot. He never wanted to come in more than an hour before opening so there was never time to take the board out and check it----until one night his wife called and said Roy had had an accident with lamp #3. I got there and found Roy & wife in the office, he looked like a train had hit him. Seems he had opened the lamp and reached in without looking and gotten full igniter voltage from one hand and out the other---he had burns on his hands to prove it. He was found with no pulse or respiration, one of the waitresses revived him with CPR. Funny thing, he wanted me to trouble shoot the board, found several cold solder joints which fixed it.

Posted by Donald Brown (Member # 5427) on 07-19-2011, 07:51 PM:

Not to minimize the gravity of the topic, but Brad's reference to ties getting caught in sprockets brought back a rather odd recollection: Many years ago I was working in an old carbon arc booth at a central Massachusetts drive-in. The theatre was equipped with a pair of old Brenkert BX80 heads along with two Brenkert Enarc lamps. At the time, the Motor-In was the oldest operational auto-theatre in central Massachusetts.

Anyway, one night following intermission, after the snackbar had closed, as I was threading up another reel for the second feature, I noticed that blood was flowing from the surface of my thumb! What quickly became evident was that the old BX80 had removed a stubborn wart that had snagged on a sprocket! Since the snackbar was locked and I didn't have access to the hand wash sink or band-aids, I simply washed up with a dabbing of Clorox and wrapped my thumb in splicing tape!

Hardly an industrial accident when the sprocket succeeded where Compound W failed!

Don Brown

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 07-19-2011, 08:00 PM:

25 years in the booth (most of them carbon arc) and no accidents. And c'mon Bill, carbons did and still do put out a beautiful light.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-19-2011, 08:22 PM:

Rouss Looses His Projectionists Job

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-20-2011, 01:43 AM:

quote: Bill Enos
In the dim and fortunately distant days of carbon arc

I had the brightest picture on the screen in town using 9mm carbons in a Peerless Magnarc while the others had either Christie CH20, or Cine 1600w xenon lamphouses.. townfolks love coming to our theatre due to such...

..being not careful when checking running machines, get distracted, look one way while not paying attention where my hand is and manage to run a finger under the pad roller so the turning sprocket perforates my finger...

Some dumb things a projectionist do once in a while ...

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-20-2011, 02:47 AM:

quote: Louis Bornwasser
Jon, a very elderly Union projectionist in Louisville, had no right thumb. When he turned suddenly, the cleaning rag wrapped around the square projector vertical drive shaft & pulled off his thumb.

He finished off his shift, 4 hours, before he went to the hospital.

That's not dedication, that's stupid. When someone gets injured, particularly when we are talking about the loss of a limb, the show does not have to go on.

Posted by Glen Rich (Member # 1150) on 07-20-2011, 07:20 AM:

I was replacing the slow start resistors on an RK60 when the owner/manager of the Cinema showed up. I told him from behind the projector not to turn on any of the circuit breakers as I was working on the projectors electrical system, "Yep" he said, "no worries", as he flicked them on and sent me flying across the box from about a 400v shock... bloody lucky it didn't kill me, but I had the shakes for a few hours afterwards. Eventually finished the repairs, then went and found the manager and had a very forthright conversation with him.
Apart from that just watch out for steep staircases in/out of bio-boxes, and don't let me near them them, as I will find a way to fall up or down them...

Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 07-20-2011, 07:29 AM:

quote: Martin McCaffery
There was a story around Local 224 in DC that one of the long haired hippie projectionists got his hair caught in the projector and had a hunk of his scalp pulled out. Could be urban legend.

Not sure about DC, but John Gilbert from Columbus Georgia had that experience, as he describes in Chapter 2 of his "Memories of the Liberty Theater."

http://columbusgeorgiaonline.com/liberty_2.htm

As I sat daydreaming, I remembered that I hadn't oiled the projectors. The right machine was running and the left projector sat ready with the next reel. I went to the gear side of the left projector and gave it a good oiling. I then went to the running projector. I wondered if I could oil it while it was operating I decided to give it a try. I opened the gearbox door, took my oil can and began to oil the spinning gears. The oil glistened on the whirling gears and shafts and would spin off onto the walls of the gearbox. I leaned down to oil the soundhead gears when suddenly something hit my head with the force of a sledge hammer. The gears ground and squealed and the film broke. I was dazed but I could see that the screen was white. I staggered around to the other side of the projector, turned off the motor, and closed the fire shutter in the lamphouse. Instantly, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I re-threaded the projector and noticed something different on the shutter shaft. Super Simplex projectors had a shaft coming out of the front to the projection head. In the old days there was a front shutter but with the advent of Cinemascope, the shutter had been removed to accommodate the larger lens. On this shaft was a huge wad of hair! I had accidently leaned into the spinning shaft and it had ripped a plug of hair out of my head by the roots! I got the movie going and stepped over to the mirror over the sink. A full square inch of hair was gone and my bloody scalp oozed blood into the surrounding hair.

"Gilbert!," Came Freddy Brown's voice from the doorway. "Why did the film stop? What's going on?"

"Mr, Brown. My hair got caught in the projector," I said still dazed and half in tears.

He stepped into the booth and examined my scalp.

"Are you alright?" he asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"I'll be okay in a minute," I said as I sat in my recliner.

"Do you need to go home?" Mr. Brown asked.

"No. I'll work the rest of the night."

"I'll call Scott Whitley," he said as he left the booth.

As I sat there with my head spinning I had a thought.

"Oh my gosh! I'm going swimming with Lisa tomorrow. What am I going to do? I can't let her see this huge spot on my head."

The very idea was worse that the injury. She was just starting to like me. What would she think of me running around with a plug of hair missing? I must look like some kind of freak. Just then Freddy Brown was back at the door.

"I've got Scott on the phone. He wants to know if you need to someone to come and relieve you.'

"No, no. I'll finish out my shift," I said through tears and by now a throbbing scalp.

He left and I made another trip to the mirror. I must have made a dozen trips to that mirror that night. I couldn't believe that I had been that stupid. What if the hair never grew back? Was I maimed for life?

At 11:00 I made my way to the lobby.

"Gilbert," said Mr. Brown as I came down the stairs. "I called Aaron Coolie, Martin Theaters City Manager."

"What did he say?" I asked.

"He didn't say anything. I told him what happened and then I didn't hear a sound. I waited for a minute and then I heard a sudden roar of laughter. He had been laughing so hard that he wasn't making a sound. It was several minutes before he could speak. All he could say was that he had told you to get a haircut. Gilbert, I don't think that you realized that you could have broken your neck!"

I was a laughing stock! I told Mr. Brown that I would see him Saturday and left.

The next day I drove to Lisa's house to pick her up. I had combed my hair and parted it to the other side of my head. I was also wearing a headband. I looked like a hippy but maybe it would hide my bald spot.

We spent a couple of hours at the Moose Lodge pool but I wouldn't get my hair wet. She finally asked if I was afraid of going under water. I had to tell her. She was going to find out sooner or later so there was no need hiding my freakishness.

"Oh, that's nothing," she said after I rattled off an explanation in one long sentence. "It'll grow back."

All of my fears had been unfounded. Lisa still liked me in spite of my missing hair.

________________________________________________________________

John has written several vivid accounts of his life in and around movie theaters. I found them fascinating, and if anyone else might be interested, they can all be found here:

http://columbusgeorgiaonline.com/reminisce.htm

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 07-20-2011, 11:40 AM:

In an industry as technology oriented as ours, I've never understood the desire of some to hold on to long obsolete systems.
Yes, I ran carbons for 15 years. Did you ever read the warning label on a late box of Nationals? I one gave a friend who is a research chemist for a well known company a plastic bag of carbon dust from one of my lamps and asked him to tell me what was there and what were the hazards of being around it. The list of nasties
was about 12 items long. Most were fairly harmless but there were several that were highly carcinogenic. He also said the dust was so fine it would pass thru paper dust masks, and a two stage filter mask would be necessary.
Monte, your bright pic wasn't due to the source, it was the brightness you had that the others didn't have.
The carbon was certainly consistent--didn't get dim and less
prone to flicker but with all the negative factors who needs 'em.

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 07-20-2011, 01:41 PM:

Glen,

I just want you to know that your incident was completely avoidable if one simple rule had been followed.

S.O.L.O.

When working on high voltage circuits, especially where the switch/breaker could be operated by someone else, the rule is to
Switch Off Lock Out or SOLO for short.

Turn off the disconnect or breaker and then lock the switch lever or the breaker box.

A RED SOLO tag with the name of the technician who is being protected should also be attached to the panel. No one is to turn on anything until contacting the technician on the tag and THAT PERSON removes his tag.

Please help others to be aware of this life saving rule.

KEN

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-20-2011, 02:15 PM:

We routinely tape off breakers if we are working on that circuit with the word "STOP" on it.

-Steve

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-20-2011, 02:17 PM:

..and E7's also had double shutters and wary of being around that long spinning shaft..

Yea, we have a similar and even a kit called: "Lockout-Tagout" to prevent such electrical accidents.

It's a device that goes over the breaker in question then a padlock secures the device from being used.

But, been in situation where I've done masking tape over the switch with words saying "Do not use".

Dang, that would hurt getting bit by that much current .. and here I play around with 277v, but making doubly sure that all power disconnected and panels locked and secure.

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 07-20-2011, 03:58 PM:

I remember working on equipment that was powered through knife switches and cartridge fuses. I always removed the fuses and kept them with me until the work was completed.

quote: Martin McCaffery
There was a story around Local 224 in DC that one of the long haired hippie projectionists got his hair caught in the projector and had a hunk of his scalp pulled out.

I was there in those days and I don't remember anyone getting hurt. Surely Leonard Sanford would have gotten much mileage out of that one during his monthly comedy act (Business Agent's Report) if it were true. I vote urban legend, but a good one.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-20-2011, 04:38 PM:

Actually, I believe I can confirm the legend! I believe it was Mark V. that had long hair at the time and it was during a screening of STAR WARS at the Uptown that it occurred.

-Steve

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 07-20-2011, 08:27 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
We routinely tape off breakers if we are working on that circuit with the word "STOP" on it.

I turn off the breakers, tape the door shut with duct tape then threaten bodily harm to anybody who takes the tape off without permission.

Well-stuck duct tape makes a distinct, loud sound as it's being peeled from the metal door of a breaker box that you can hear from across the room. I only had one incident where somebody tried to peel the tape off and they got a pretty stern "talking to" (cussing out) when I caught them.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-20-2011, 09:35 PM:

My old contract does not allow any other trade in the booth while my men are working. (Uusually we work 4pm to 2 am during construction.)

The sad fact is that this is only because of physical harm that seems never to happen except during new construction. (4 inch sprinkler pipe dropped on my head; saved by Christie console or I would be dead.) Louis

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 07-21-2011, 09:53 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
...during a screening of STAR WARS at the Uptown that it occurred.

That was after my time and explains why I didn't hear of it. Leonard may have also been gone by then.

Posted by Jeffry L. Johnson (Member # 453) on 07-21-2011, 10:30 AM:

quote: Martin McCaffery
There was a story around Local 224 in DC that one of the long haired hippie projectionists got his hair caught in the projector and had a hunk of his scalp pulled out.

30 years ago. I loaned a Simplex Super projector head to a female projectionist in our local who caught her hair in a projector and stripped the gears. Single screen two projector booth.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-21-2011, 02:55 PM:

quote: Jeffry L. Johnson
30 years ago. I loaned a Simplex Super projector head to a female projectionist in our local who caught her hair in a projector and stripped the gears.

Just as long as that's the only stripping she did... [evil]

Although this isn't projection related, it did take place in a theatre: immediately opposite a single-screen arthouse I worked at many years ago, they pulled down a semi-derelict building to redevelop the site. That made a large number of furry, squeaky creatures homeless, some of whom tried to take refuge in our cinema. For about two weeks we had a full-scale vermin infestation in the place, in response to which one of the managers set a load of mouse traps in the kiosk and bar area. A couple of days alater, one of the bar staff reached behind a beer barrel in the process of changing it, put her finger in a mouse trap and shortly afterwards found herself in hospital with a broken index finger.