Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
語言:
English
Photo Credit: 玄史生/WikiCommons/CC0
A 29-YEAR-OLD WOMAN surnamed Wu died earlier this month after being accidentally strangled at an escape room. Wu was playing a part in the escape room, pretending to be a ghost who had died by hanging.
However, during the performance, the rope tightened around her neck, causing her to lose consciousness and go into cardiac arrest. Wu was found by co-workers and players of the game, who called the ambulance. The incident took place on May 11th.
After Wu was rushed to the hospital, her condition stabilized, and she was seen as out of life-threatening danger. Nevertheless, it appears that Wu’s condition worsened several days later, causing her to pass away. An autopsy will be performed.
Wu’s family has stated that they intend to sue her employer, holding a press conference with her current and former co-workers. Wu was working at the “Yongchun Hospital” escape room run by Rostart Games. At the press conference, criticisms of Rostart Games were that workers–and their lives–had been treated like props.
Hemp ropes were used while workers stood on interlocking maps as part of the performance.
A former co-worker stated that while performing the same role, they had lost consciousness five or six times. No security cameras were in use where the performance took place, and the area was dark.
Although it is unusual for workers to die in escape rooms, the incident raises questions about occupational safety in the entertainment industry. Indeed, one can point to a number of incidents–some tragic.
The most famous incident in point may be the fire at a New Taipei water park that killed 15, left 199 in critical conditions, and burned 508 people. The fire, which took place at the Formosa Fun Coast water park in Bali, New Taipei, started because of a “color powder party” that involved spraying participants with corn starch. When the corn starch ignited, this led to fatalities.
Nevertheless, in 2020, a fire at the Cashbox Partyworld KTV on Linsen North Road in Taipei on the night of Sunday, April 26th, killed five and left over fifty hospitalized, with a sixth victim dying several days later of injuries sustained during the fire. The incident led to a wave of inspections on Cashbox KTV locations in Taipei and Taichung on April 27th, the day after the fire broke out. Four out of the six locations inspected in Taipei failed their fire safety inspections and were closed. Two Cashbox KTVs that were inspected in Taichung also failed and were closed.
In the wake of the failed inspections, Cashbox KTV suspended operations in all seventeen of its branches across Taiwan. What was questioned, however, was the fact that the Linsen North Road Cashbox KTV passed all twenty safety inspections that have taken place there since 2018.
Such incidents more generally point to issues regarding workplace safety in the Internet industry. Such issues are compounded by cost-cutting at the expense of worker and customer safety, as well as a culture of lax safety inspections. It is to be seen if the tragedy at the escape room leads to any change.