VIC: Stunt guidelines may need changing: stunt veteran

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-1998
VIC: Stunt guidelines may need changing: stunt veteran

By Leigh Murray

MELBOURNE, Dec 7 AAP - Guidelines for professional stuntmen may need changing to avert
further deaths in the industry, a veteran stuntman today told an inquest into the death of a
man during a film stunt three years ago.

The inquest was later told the present safety measures were "not a great system".

Thomas Moos told Melbourne Coroners Court he would agree to changes to solve some of the
dangers faced by stuntmen "if it prevents something like this (deaths)".

State Coroner Graeme Johnstone is investigating the death of Collin Dragsbaek, 37, who died
during a stunt in November 1995.

Dragsbaek jumped off a 25 metre-high wheat silo and landed on an airbag during the filming
of feature film Love Serenade at Robinvale, in north-western Victoria.

The $4 million comedy satire was produced by The Pianos Jane Campion and directed by debut
feature maker Shirley Barrett, who won the Camera dOr prize for new directors at the 1996
Cannes Film festival.

A second Victorian stuntman, Trevor Walsh, died four days after Dragsbaek in a 13-metre
fall at an industry training day in Brooklyn on March 17, 1996. Mr Johnstones inquest into Mr
Walshs death will begin at the end of this inquest.

Mr Moos was standing beside Mr Walsh as he jumped to his death and admitted he (Moos) was
"concerned that he (Walsh) jumped out too far in order to be able to make a landing in the
centre of the bag".

"My belief as to why Trevor was fatally injured in the fall was (that) he began the jump
too far out from the platform and was too flat in the air for the jump he was undertaking."

Mr Moos said Mr Walsh was a "competent performer" and had worked with him on TV shows
Janus, Blue Heelers and Feds.

Mr Moos said there was no safety supervisor overseeing the jumps during the training day
and that everyone was in charge of safety "in the sense (that) it was a group training
session".

Chris Anderson, a stuntman for 23 years who designed an airbag 17 years ago, said there was
still a need for stuntmen to jump from great heights despite computer technology now available
to simulate such falls.

"It all depends on the amount of money the production company has," he said.

Mr Anderson said people were normally placed at the corners of an airbag during a fall in
case something started going wrong "but whether they could actually move it in time in a
worst-case scenario is a point of conjecture".

"Its not a great system."

The inquest was continuing.

AAP ljm/er/kr/de

KEYWORD: DRAGSBAEK (CARRIED EARLIER)

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