Safety: Mascot/Bighead/Walkaround costume engineering

The Arts, Crafts, and Theatre Safety organization publishes a monthly newsletter entitled "ACTS FACTS," which contains various media articles about cautionary safety topics pertaining to the fields of arts and entertainment. This month there is an article that I would particularly like to share with my readership, as it addresses large-scale character/mascot costumes (also often known in the industry as "bigheads" or "walkarounds"). The character/mascot production industry is one into which many crafts artisans enter at some point in their careers.

This article is reprinted by permission from ACTS FACTS, Monona Rossol, Editor--181 Thompson St #23, New York, NY, 10012--(212)777-0062, ACTSNYC@cs.com -- http://www.artscraftstheatresafety.org/. It's contents are copyright ACTS, April 2007.

Disney Learns Lessons About Costume Safety
Orlando Sentinel, www.orlandosentinel.com, Beth Kassab, 3/6/07

Thousands of performers at Disney parks around the world must deal with physically demanding conditions and injuries from their heavy and sweltering hot costumes, overzealous children and other hazards. These performers at Disney's four Orlando theme parks reported enough injuries in 2005 to affect more than a third of the 1,900-person work force.

The reason is the costumes portraying 270 different characters can weigh as much as 47 pounds. Weight was blamed for 282 out of 773 injuries, mostly to the neck, shoulder or back, according to reports kept by Disney during 2005, the most recent year available for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). While some of the injuries were minor, the reports show that actors at Disney World were injured badly enough in cases in which the costume was cited as a factor to miss a combined 105 days of work in 2005. Actors were transferred to lighter-duty jobs for a month or longer at least 13 times that year because of costume-related conditions.

A burdensome costume head, typically a weighty part of the gear, was specifically cited in 49 cases, often resulting in neck or back strain. Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck heads, among others, were specifically mentioned in the reports.

Children or adults were listed as a cause in 107 injured, in which they pushed, pulled or otherwise hurt performers in costume. Some reports cited "excited" guests, characters who were "hit by guest," "jumping" children, "heavy" children and "child pulling on costume." Injuries from those incidents include bruises, sprains, and other ailments.

All told, the reported incidents ranged from a death in 2004 to minor ailments such as skin rashes. The death occurred when 38-year-old performer Javier Cruz died after he was hit and run over by a parade float backstage while dressed as Pluto. OSHA fined Disney $6300 because they had allowed employees to be in areas where they should not have been. But that incident also raised question about performer's poor vision while in costume.

Another issue is the heat that can build up in the costume especially in the hot Florida summers. Various gadgets such as fans, cooling tubes and ice vests were reportedly tried, but for the most part, they added more weight to the costume than they were worth. The gadgets tend to break, performers say, leaving them carrying additional pounds without any benefit. And in the dead of summer, performers reported that the ice in the vests melts before you get started.

Disney claims that in recent years it has recruited a former NASA engineer to address some of the issues on how the human body endures heat and weight. Disney also exchanges information with military researchers who examine the effects of heat and heavy loads on soldiers and has adopted some materials and techniques originally developed for the auto industry, Carol Campbell, vice president of Disney's character programs and development claims.

Disney also says it now provides classes for actors on how to bend down and pick up heavy items (such as the bag that contains their costume) and other ergonomically correct movements. And [sic] instructor-led warm-up class designed by sport-medicine experts at Florida Hospital is included at the beginning of each actor's shift.

COMMENT. ACTS would like to see Disney's finding made available to teachers of costume design in schools and universities. All of these issues of restricted vision, heat, and ergonomic factors should be incorporated into costume designing at the entry level in this profession.

I concur with ACTS' final comment--we artisans need to always be mindful of wearer-safety when creating costume items, and consideration of vision-range, interior heat, and overall weight must always be integrated from an engineering level, from concept to design to execution. I'll be teaching a course in the fall in maskmaking, which includes a section on bighead engineering and macropuppet costumes, so in a few months i'll be addressing this further on a practical, specific scale here in La Bricoleuse.

Incidentally, if you are interested in reading more about the circumstances surrounding the death of Javier Cruz, the incident is discussed at length here, on the Theme Park Insider forum, a discussion board for park workers and equipment operators and engineers.