From The South Bend Tribune: The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration assessed the University of Notre Dame with $77,500 in fines for six violations in connection with the death of student Declan Sullivan. Sullivan, a junior from Long Grove, Ill., died while videotaping Notre Dame's football practice Oct. 27. He was working from atop a hydraulic scissor lift — 39 feet above the ground — when the structure fell over in high winds. The agency found thtat the lifts should not have been in use the day Sullivan died. The National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory for sustained winds of 25 to 35 miles an hour and gusts of 45 miles an hour; the manufacturer of the lift Sullivan was on recommended that it not be used in wind speeds exceeding 28 miles an hour. EARLIER...from Bloomberg News: The University of Notre Dame no longer will use hydraulic scissor lifts to videotape football practices, following the death last year of a student when a lift toppled in high winds. The school is erecting a remote video system at its practice fields, mounting four cameras on 50-foot poles. The announcement follows the Oct. 27 death of 20-year-old Declan Sullivan, who was recording an afternoon practice from a lift when it fell over. The South Bend, Ind., area was under a hazardous-weather outlook that called for sustained winds of 25 to 35 miles per hour with gusts of 45 miles per hour on the day Sullivan died. The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident.
OCTOBER 2010...from The Chicago Tribune: A 20-year-old student was killed on the University of Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Ind., when a lift used for filming the school’s football practice collapsed. Declan Sullivan, of Long Grove, Ill., a junior, was on one of four hydraulic, portable lifts usually used to film practice. The lift either blew back or collapsed, gashing a fence and line of bushes. The top of the lift landed in the middle of the road. South Bend was under a wind advisory, and gusts at the time of the accident reached 51 miles an hour, according to the National Weather Service.
