Entertainment
Rust production company fined $137,000 for ‘plain indifference to safety’ ahead of Halyna Hutchins shooting Kim Novak
Rust’s production company has been fined for ‘indifference to employee safety’ (Picture: Getty; AP)
A report has found that the production company behind the movie Rust ‘demonstrated plain indifference to employee safety’ before the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins last year.
Hutchins, 42, was killed on the set of Rust in October last year after a prop gun actor Alec Baldwin, 64, had been holding misfired, fatally wounding the cinematographer.
Rust Movie Productions LLC was issued a fine of $136,793 (£104,818), the maximum civil penalty allowed by state law in New Mexico, according to the state’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau.
A report into the tragedy found that the production company ‘knew that firearm safety procedures were not being followed on set and demonstrated plain indifference to employee safety’.
New Mexico’s environment cabinet secretary James Kenney said in a statement: ‘Our investigation found that this tragic incident never would have happened if Rust Movie Productions, LLC had followed national film industry standards for firearm safety.
‘This is a complete failure of the employer to follow recognised national protocols that keep employees safe.’
Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on the set of Rust last year (Picture: Mat Hayward/Getty Images for AMC Networks)
The prop gun Alec Baldwin had been holding misfired, fatally wounding Halyna Hutchins (Picture: AP)
The production company was also issued with a ‘Wilful-Serious citation’ for ‘the plain indifference to the recognised hazards associated with the use of firearms on set that resulted in a fatality, severe injury, and unsafe working conditions’.
The fine comes after a six-month investigation by the New Mexico Environment Department into the incident in which Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was also injured.
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Baldwin maintains that he believed the gun was ‘cold’ and did not contain live rounds.
Hutchins is survived by her husband, Matthew, and their nine-year-old son Andros.
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