Oregon OSHA also cites the performance troupe for the uneven makeup of its employee safety board.
International “modern circus” troupe Cirque du Soleil was fined recently by state safety officials after a performer was seriously injured in a summer performance of the show Kooza.
The Canada-based troupe has filed an appeal in the matter, according to the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration.. The agency’s report was issued in December. The report states the company has asked for an “informal conference” to discuss the wording of the citation and reach a possible settlement, according to reporting by KOIN.
In August, aerialist Maria Konfektova suffered multiple fractures in a 15-foot fall from a hoop during a performance of the show “Kooza.”
Cirque failed to provide adequate safeguards for its performers, according to the Oregon OSHA report, which handed down an $8,070 fine. Additionally, the company failed to effectively investigate its safety incidents. However, the report states the company maintains good “housekeeping practices” and that mechanical failure did not contribute to the August incident.
Oregon OSHA requires that employers “abate” violations even if their cases are under appeal. Cirque is considered to have abated the offending hazards in its case by removing the particular act from the show for the remainder of its stand in Oregon, according to Oregon OSHA spokesperson Aaron Corvin.
Cirque received a second citation from Oregon OSHA for the composition of its employee safety board. The company violated Oregon law by failing to stock the board with an equal number of employer-selected and employee-elected members. At the time of the August incident, all eight safety committee members had been selected by the company. Corvin says the company also abated its safety committee violation.
Founded in the mid-1980s near Quebec City, Cirque du Soleil today employs around 4,000 people, including 1,200 artists, according to its website.
Four employees have died in the company’s history, and Cirque du Soleil Nevada Newco has been investigated by OSHA agencies in Florida and Nevada in recent years. The most recent death was that 38-year-old Yann Arnaud, who fell 20 feet in 2018 in Tampa. A performer was injured in Portland in 2008 in a 20-foot mid-performance fall from a chandelier apparatus. That performer was treated and released at Oregon Health and Science University, according to the Oregonian. A Cirque performer in Las Vegas was paralyzed in a mishap in a performance in 2023.
Kooza is described by the company as a “breakthrough ice experience” where world-class ice skating fuses with “unexpected” acrobatics. The troupe returns to Veterans Memorial Coliseum in late May.
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