LAS VEGAS – Challenged by a federal OSHA report, Nevada's state OSHA officials reaffirmed their findings related to their investigation of the death of a 20-year-old stagehand at the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre on May 20, 2009.
The stagehand, Vicente Rodriguez, a UNLV student who had been hired part-time by Rhino Las Vegas for the load-out after a Tom Jones performance, was trying to clip his rigging harness onto a lifeline when he fell from planking that was 36 feet above the showroom floor.
After the accident, Nevada OSHA cited the MGM Grand and Rhino for safety violations, and after reported negotiations, MGM Grand paid a fine for unsafe planking. But Nevada OSHA did not find the theatre owners or rigging company indifferent or willfully ignorant of known hazards.
Nevada OSHA's Jan. 25 reply to the federal OSHA report dated Dec. 23 also cited statute of limitations restrictions against reopening the investigation. The state agency said it would detail their decision to rule out willful wrongdoing on the part of the theater owner and the rigging company in a new report to federal OSHA officials due March 1.
