Amazon denies unsafe workplace claims for stuntmen – Deadline

The recent crowdfunding campaign for New Zealand’s top stuntwoman and coordinator Dayna Grant to undergo emergency brain surgery, supported by Lucy Lawless and other leading actors and producers, put the studios in the spotlight. from amazon The Lord of the Rings series. That’s because Grant suffered a concussion while working on the New Zealand set of the big-budget fantasy drama in March 2021.

This is one of many cases cited in a New Zealand Harold article that, relying on mostly anonymous sources, alleges that concerns about the show’s safety standards are not being addressed seriously enough “after ‘At least two injuries requiring surgery were not proactively reported to WorkSafe,’ calling the entire show a ‘dangerous workplace’ for stuntmen.

“Amazon Studios takes the health, physical and emotional well-being of our cast and crew very seriously,” a spokesperson for the streamer said in a statement in response to the article. “As a top priority, the production team continues to be in full compliance with the government safety and security regulations of Worksafe New Zealand. Any claim or report that activities on the set are dangerous or outside the regulations are completely inaccurate. “

The production employs a safety team of 21 full-time and 6-8 part-time crews and adheres to two protocols, Amazon Studios procedures and Nova Scotia health and safety legislation and best practices. Zealand, following the highest standards wherever they may not line up.

New Zealander Harold alleges that Grant was “forced to perform maneuvers with which she was not comfortable” on LOTR. No direct link between Grant’s injury on the set of the Amazon show and its sequel Traumatic Cerebral lesion – brain-damage symptoms was established because she would have been allowed to return to work and resume her daily activities after the incident and stunted several other productions before she was recently diagnosed with an 8mm aneurysm and injuries to her upper spine.

Another stuntman, Thomas Kiwi, who spoke to the newspaper, said he left production in March after seriously injuring his right shoulder rotator cuff. He claims he repeatedly complained to the stunt supervisor that he was not properly secured with the support wires while performing a backflip stunt.

Neither Grant nor Kiwi’s injuries were reported to Worksafe, the New Zealand equivalent of OSHA. It is understood that Amazon Studios was not in violation, as work-related accidents must be reported if they are considered “notifiable” and involved an overnight stay in hospital. According to sources, the studio had no official record of the alleged incident involving Kiwi and was not aware of it even though Amazon has a strict policy of recording all incidents and near misses with no exceptions.

An injury suffered by Australian stuntwoman Elissa Cadwell in February 2020 was also not reported to WorkSafe until it was reported by the Weekend Herald, the New Zealand newspaper claims and also alleges that Amazon has told her. paid around $ 500,000 after his injury, apparently in part to help Cadwell return home and settle in Australia.

Since season 1 of $ 450 million The Lord of the Rings started production in early 2020, there were 16,200 stunt person-days worked, with an injury rate of 0.068%.