‘Rust’ Producers Appeal New Mexico Agency’s Penalty Over Firearm Safety
thewrap.compenalty from New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Department, which found in a report that the producers used “plain indifference” to firearm safety on set.
The producers, in a notice of contest filed Tuesday, pushed back on the report’s claims that “Rust” “willfully” violated safety protocols, including contesting that misfires of firearms were not properly addressed and that the set did not properly use a fire extinguisher. “The three alleged ‘misfires’ were properly addressed.
The first was not a misfire at all and did not involve a firearm – it was a harmless noise from a special effects ‘popper.’ The other two involved discharges of blank rounds,” the contest notice obtained by TheWrap reads. “Contrary to NMED’s statements, none of the ‘misfires’ violated firearm safety protocols on the set and appropriate corrective actions were taken, including safety briefings of cast and crew.”Back in April, the state’s local Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) slapped “Rust” with the maximum penalty of just under $140,000 as part of an investigation that was required to be completed within six months of the incident in which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot when a gun held by the film’s star Alec Baldwin discharged.
The complaint first pushed back on being penalized for “Rust’s” use of a fire extinguisher that was not maintained properly, saying it was not a real fire extinguisher but “a special effects device used to create fake smoke.” “The attempt to extend the application of a fire extinguisher regulation to a special effects device shows their misunderstanding of the film industry,” the producers wrote.
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