People in charge are forever cutting corners when it comes to safety. The folks that pay the price for this, their friends and loved ones, they’ll never be whole again. And for what?
AP Photo - Jae C. Hong
The LA Times is reporting that:
Safety protocols standard in the industry, including gun inspections, were not strictly followed on the “Rust” set near Santa Fe, the sources said. They said at least one of the camera operators complained last weekend to a production manager about gun safety on the set.
Three crew members who were present at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set on Saturday said they were particularly concerned about two accidental prop gun discharges.
Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two rounds Saturday after being told that the gun was “cold” — lingo for a weapon that doesn’t have any ammunition, including blanks — two crew members who witnessed the episode told the Los Angeles Times.
“There should have been an investigation into what happened,” a crew member said. “There were no safety meetings. There was no assurance that it wouldn’t happen again. All they wanted to do was rush, rush, rush.”
These working conditions are what lead to half a dozen of the camera crew workers walking off the set of Rust hours before the fatal shooting of Director of Photography, Halyna Hutchins.