The Rust Movie Shooting and Bad Management

Just like you can't fight City Hall, it can be impossible to overcome bad management decisions. Workplace safety regulator says management failed in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin | KLRT - FOX16

The armorer from the set of Rust, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. (That verdict was rendered AFTER the linked article was published.) Hutchins was actually shot by Alec Baldwin, but Gutierrez-Reed was supposed to be in charge of weapons safety. The key phrase in that sentence is "supposed to be."

Lorenzo Montoya, of the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau, conducted a six-month investigation of the shooting and whether managers affiliated with Rust Movie Productions complied with state workplace safety regulations.

His inspection produced a scathing narrative of safety failures in violation of standard industry protocols, including observations that weapons specialists were not allowed to make decisions about additional safety training and didn’t respond to Gutierrez-Reed’s complaints. The report also found that managers took limited or no action to address two misfires on set before the fatal shooting and requests to provide more training.

Of course more time = more money. It doesn't surprise me that management came down on the side of less time, and less money. But this reminds me of an old saying from manufacturing. If you think safety is important, try budgeting for an accident.

I wonder if Alec Baldwin is second guessing himself over not providing more time for safety. Probably not, since that would mean he would have to admit some level of responsibility, even to himself. And while a lot of people on social media are going on about how this means Baldwin should be scared of being found guilty, I think it gives people an out. We know who was responsible, the woman no one ever heard of before this shooting, and not a big-name actor with an army of lawyers. But then I can be very cynical when it comes to the Criminal Justice System (so called).