OSHA Fines Pickathon, GuildWorks After Production Deaths

The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined two companies for safety violations that led to the deaths of two workers at a Portland area music festival.

OSHA issued $31,000 in fines to Pickathon LLC and GuildWorks LLC after two workers died at the Pickathon Music Festival in August in a lift accident, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Brandon Blackmore and Brad Swet were up in a boom lift taking down an installation when the lift, which was on an incline, tilted and fell, killing them. The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said that they were wearing safety equipment and were roped to the boom lift.

OSHA said two alarm devices on the boom lift had been disabled. Each company was fined $12,500 for disabling the alarms.

OSHA also fined GuildWorks $6,000 for not following instructions provided by the boom lift manufacturer.

The agency said the investigation revealed that Pickathon and Guildworks had “a history of failing to follow proper safety procedures.” – Associated Press

UPDATE: Zale Schoenborn, Pickathon’s founder and festival director, sent the following response to Pollstar in a statement: “The tragic loss that the families of Brad and Brandon, Pickathon, Guildworks, and the larger festival community suffered last year was absolutely heartbreaking and continues to shake us to our core. We have always focused on safety with the same passion that we bring to producing the festival experience, and in our twenty-one year history this was our first serious accident. In 2020, we are challenging ourselves to completely redesign and rethink the festival with safety even more at the forefront in an effort to create a whole new Pickathon experience that is closer to nature, closer to the ground, and closer to the audience than ever before.” – Ryan Borba