http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTWkSJDIpkk
During the week, a RTÉ prop assistant was awarded €18,500 in damages after he fell and hurt his elbow back in 2010. Here’s why the accident happened in the first place.
On Friday, Arthur McMullen, 59, was awarded €18,500 in the Circuit Civil Court because of an incident which occurred over two years ago on the set of ‘The Saturday Night Show’ with Brendan O’Connor.
Mr McMullen suffered his injuries in a fall after he un-snagged a curtain from the front of the stage during the show’s rehearsals in February 2010.
In the video above, which the creator has titled ‘How Pathetic is RTE?’, you can see as the Undertones start to sing, the red curtain becomes snagged on a floor light. Although, maybe the curtain was just trying to hide the Undertones for a few minutes longer.
We then see O’Connor as he gets out of his chair and goes to sort out the situation when members of the crew fail to do so.
You can even hear him saying to the producers “I did warn you this curtain”, although he could have been saying it a bit half-heartedly. He’s a howl like that, ‘ahem’.
The court ruled that a number of factors were to blame for Mr McMullen’s injury. Firstly there was the curtain, which was getting snagged on an overhead light, the fact that the studio was poorly lit and also because of the fact that there were loose cables strewn across the place (as is the case with most TV studios).
Seamus Breen, counsel for RTE, commentated that the station denied liability. They said that Mr McMullan was an experienced props assistant and had to look out for his own safety. Which seems like a bit of a stab at the poor guy, but he’s not going to care now that he has his €18k.
