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Sarah Jones death: 'Midnight Rider' cited by OSHA, faces $74,900 in fines
Parents Richard and Elizabeth Jones attend a memorial for their daughter Sarah Jones, an assistant camerawoman who was killed by a train while shooting the Gregg Allman biopic film, Midnight Rider, on March 7, 2014 in Los Angeles.
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The production company already under fire after the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones during the filming of "Midnight Rider" has been cited by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the department announced Thursday.
The citation given to Pasadena-based Film Allman LLC is for "one willful and one serious safety violation for exposing employees to struck-by and fall hazards," according to an OSHA press release. The company faces fines of $74,900.
Jones was killed by an oncoming train in Georgia in February while working on a railroad bridge for a scene in the film, which was to be a biopic about rock musician Gregg Allman.
On Thursday, OSHA southeast regional administrator Kurt Petermeyer blamed the production company's lack of a safety plan for leading to Jones' death and injuries to eight other members of the crew, according to the release.
The others were injured by debris from the train hitting a hospital bed being used in the shoot, the statement says.
"It is unacceptable that Film Allman LLC knowingly exposed their crew to moving trains while filming on a live track and railroad trestle," Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels said in the release. Michaels said that the entertainment industry is no exception to employers needing to protect worker safety.
The statement says that the willful citation is for the company failing to provide safety measures to protect the crew from moving trains. Willful violations are defined by OSHA as meaning it was either with a knowing or voluntary disregard of the law or with indifference to worker safety.
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The other violation was for having the crew work on a train trestle without safety guardrails or other measures to protect them from falling, according to the statement.
The production company has 15 business days to respond to the citations, according to the statement.
Director Randall Miller; his wife and business partner, Jody Savin; and the film's executive producer, Jay Sedrish, have already been charged with involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing in connection with the accident that shut down production of the film.
Miller and Savin turned themselves in to Georgia authorities in July and were both released after posting a $27,700 bond.
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