Indiana Slow to Address Expired Rules Drafted after Stage Collapse

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Emergency rules drafted following the deadly 2011 Indiana State Fair stage collapse expired nearly a year ago and state regulators have not yet drafted a permanent rule intended to prevent such a disaster from happening again.

The rules that established design and construction requirements for outdoor event equipment, such as stage rigging, expired on Jan. 1, 2016, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported.

Indiana Department of Homeland Security spokesman John Erickson said permanent rule-making to replace the emergency regulations has already started, but he acknowledged that process can take up to two years.

Indianapolis developer Craig Von Deylen, a member of the State Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission, told the newspaper he was disappointed that Gov. Mike Pence’s administration “let the rule lapse.” He said the commission could have noticed the rule’s impending expiration and acted, had it been provided with adequate staff to do its job.

“People died in an incident in the state prior to that rule,” Von Deylen said. “It cost the state a considerable amount of money in both legal fees and settlements.”

Seven people were killed and nearly 100 were injured when high winds toppled stage rigging and sent the roof of the stage onto fans awaiting the start of a concert by the country duo Sugarland at the fairgrounds in Indianapolis on Aug. 13, 2011.

Following those deaths, the Washington, D.C.-based public safety and crisis management firm of Witt Associates determined that “the state of Indiana should adopt and implement stringent regulation of the type of structure that collapsed during the state fair.”

Erickson said the expired emergency rules are “still being used as a guideline to assist with outdoor equipment safety.” He added that the state Department of Homeland Security has been encouraged “by the level of voluntary compliance with these guidelines.”

The emergency rule was originally set to expire in 2014, but a bill passed by the General Assembly extended that deadline to Jan. 1, 2016, giving state regulators more time to establish permanent rules.

Commission members, however, told the newspaper the rule-making process only started this fall.

Von Deylen said the building safety commission is behind on its work because key legal and administrative staff positions that had once been in place at the state level to review and update the codes have been eliminated.

He called for Pence, the vice president-elect, to “provide (the commission) with adequate staff so we can do our job.” Pence’s term as Indiana’s governor ends Jan. 9.

Indiana and 19 companies were part of a $50 million settlement reached in 2015 with victims of the stage collapse. The state paid $11 million of that.

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