INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s lawmakers, undoubtedly mindful of the Aug. 13, 2011 Indiana State Fair staging collapse that killed seven people, made progress in late January toward the establishment of a new state law that will govern the use of outdoor staging.
Senate Bill No. 273 passed and was forwarded to the state’s House of Representatives for consideration. Although it may be modified further in the House, it will most likely require permits for any event after June 2012 where staging structures are in use.
The Senate Bill initially stipulated that event permits would not be issued unless staging structures passed inspections from fire prevention and building safety officials.
That part of the bill was modified, allowing for a wider pool of authorized inspectors who would conduct their inspections in accordance with “standards specified by the commission.”
All permit applicants would also still need to grant fire and building safety officials direct access to the staging structures on request, and those officials would have the authority to determine whether or not an event would be allowed to proceed as planned.
The current version of SB 273 can be downloaded from:
http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2012/PDF/SB/SB0273.1.pdf
