INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The superintendent of an Indiana school district where a stage collapsed, injuring 16 high school students when they plunged an orchestra pit, said Friday that the section that gave way was only a few years old, but it’s unclear whether it was ever subject to inspection.
The uncertainty surrounding the regulation of the orchestra pit cover that collapsed during Thursday’s finale of a musical at Westfield High School, 20 miles north of Indianapolis, is reminiscent of questions that arose in 2011, when heavy winds toppled stage rigging onto fans awaiting a performance by country duo Sugarland at the Indiana State Fair.
Seven people were killed and dozens injured in that collapse, which sparked new state rules on temporary, outdoor stage rigging equipment. Thursday’s collapse wasn’t deadly, and all of the students who were injured were out of the hospital by Friday afternoon.
John Erickson, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Homeland Security, said the state rules adopted after the fair rigging collapse don’t apply to the type of permanent, indoor stages found in schools. And he said it’s unclear whether inspections of public school stages are required under any state rules.
