In a
recent post on
NIOSH’s Science Blog, Gregory Burr and Deborah Hornback take a behind-the-curtain look at the hazards faced by actors, designers and musicians involved in live performances. “Some of these hazards were well publicized in recent years, as multiple actors and stunt doubles were injured during the production of Spiderman, Turn off the Dark,” Burr and Hornback note. “Potential hazards include rigging and flying hazards, repetitive strain injuries among dancers and carpenters, solvent and chemical exposures,
noise-induced hearing loss (subject of another Science Blog post), electrical hazards, falls from heights, as well as most hazards found on a construction site.” These include electrical hazards, falls from heights, exposure to solvents, paints and resins, repetitive strain injuries and noise.
Burr and Hornback point to BLS data showing that injuries involving days away from work among occupations related to the theater increased from a low of 870 in 2006 to a high of 1,570 in 2008 before declining in 2009 to 1,190. Among the injuries incurred from 2003 to 2009, Burr and Hornback report that 50% were strains and sprains; 41% were to the lower extremities; and the median number of days away from work was 39 days--“notable as the national average is around 8 days.”
