Some career paths come with more risks than others – but they should still be safe.
When thinking about which roles are the most hazardous, usually working with large machinery in the agricultural or manufacturing sector tends to spring to mind. There’s one job in particular that we’ll all have seen performed on our favourite TV shows and movies that makes your pulse race and that’s being a stunt performer.
Our client Joe was a professional stunt performer, working on films and TV productions including Mission Impossible – Fallout, Star Wars Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, Game of Thrones, and the recent series Gangs of London.
In July 2019, he was undertaking a stunt for Fast and Furious 9 on set in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, when it went catastrophically wrong.
Had the stunt gone correctly, he should have been thrown over the shoulder of another stunt performer off a 25ft high balcony, and then suspended by a wire mid-air. Instead, Joe hit the concrete head first, sustaining a fractured skull and a traumatic brain injury. He was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital, where he was induced into a coma for five days to reduce the pressure on his brain and give him the best chance of recovery. He spent two and a half months in hospital, needing to relearn skills such as speech and everyday living.
After the accident, Joe and his fiancée Tilly Powell instructed our specialist workplace injury lawyers to investigate what happened, and to help him access the specialist support and treatment he needs to live life to his fullest potential.
We created this video to share his story:
Now over a year on, 32 year old Joe is still suffering from the aftermath of the accident. His rehabilitation continues, working with a neuropsychologist, a physiotherapist, and an occupational therapist amongst others. He’s motivated to keep working at his recovery, despite the pandemic slowing him down because of the need to do some sessions remotely. Even though lockdown has stood in the way of his recovery, this hasn’t stopped Joe from working hard and he does feel like he’s seen improvement.
Though he can’t remember the day of the accident, he said “My life has changed dramatically since then. I’m determined to maximise my recovery and I’m grateful for the care I received at the Royal London Hospital, the Wellington Hospital and the Essex Air Ambulance Service."
The accident means Joe has lost the career he loved. It’s not possible for any career choice to be guaranteed as 100% safe, but there’s always ways to put safeguards in place to make working as risk-free as possible. The UK is home to the world’s leading association of stunt professionals, the British Stunt Register, of which Joe is a member. It aims to establish the highest standards of performance and safety by assessing their members to ensure they meet the skills and knowledge to complete stunts safely.
Helping to recover with rehabilitation
Through the support we give our clients we see first-hand how much impact rehabilitation has. For many of them, going through rehabilitation gives them back the independence they’d lost because of their illness or injuries. It also helps them get their lives back on track by giving them objectives to work towards, with the help of their specialists – whether that’s to get back to work, or become more independent around the house.
Lockdown has made this difficult for everyone going through rehabilitation and that’s the subject tackled in our latest podcast. We cover how lockdown has changed the way rehabilitation is delivered, the impact it might have on our clients’ mental health, and the positives that have come out of virtual appointments. Our experts have taken a detailed look at what all this means for rehabilitation both now and in the future.
Our guest host Deirdre Healy is joined by Jennifer Appleby, one of our client liaison managers and Jackie Dean, clinical director at case management company N-able. You can listen to the podcast here.
A life lost too soon
For some accidents, rehabilitation tragically isn’t an option, because the incident resulted in a loss of someone’s life. Veteran cameraman, Mark Milsome, was fatally injured when a Land Rover Defender crashed into him during the filming of a documentary.
His wife Andra, and daughter Alice, waited three years for answers from the inquest into his death. The inquest was held at the end of October, with a conclusion of accidental death. It was stated that shortly before the stunt began, the risk of Mark being harmed or fatally injured was not effectively recognised, assessed, communicated or managed.
He was well-renowned in the film industry, working on countless series including Game of Thrones, Sherlock, and Downton Abbey, as well as Hollywood blockbusters such as Saving Private Ryan, The Theory of Everything and Quantum of Solace.
Mark had been filming a night-time stunt sequence for Black Earth Rising, a co-production between the BBC and Netflix, in Achimota Forest in Ghana. The stunt was supposed to feature the Defender going over a ramp and toppling over, but instead it headed straight for Mark, killing him and injuring his colleague.
Our expert solicitor Caroline Davies is supporting Andra and Alice, through the difficult times they’ve experienced since his sudden and unexpected death.
You can read more about the case here.
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