Notre Dame bans hydraulic lifts from practices

Notre Dame announced Tuesday that hydraulic lifts, such as the one 20-year-old Declan Sullivan was filming practice from on October 27 when he tragically fell to his death, have been banned by the school.

Instead, the school announced that it will install remote control cameras mounted on 50-foot poles and controlled from a room inside the Notre Dame Athletic Complex. The camera system was designed by XOS Digital—the company that supplies Notre Dame with editing and technical equipment.

Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown told the AP that the call was made to XOS in November. “We went to XOS last November and said, ‘Is there any way to eliminate the use of hydraulic lifts?’” he said.

The boxes holding the cameras will be equipped to protect the cameras from rain and wind, and will also have a wiper to clear the lens. The boxes will also be outfitted with the green shamrock logo with Sullivan’s initials inside it—the same logo the Notre Dame team wore on their helmets last season to honor the video worker.

When Notre Dame starts spring practice on March 23rd, the new camera systems will be in place. Works began drilling holes for the camera poles on Tuesday.

The Indiana Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) is still investigating what caused the lift to fall on the blustery day in late October where wind gusts were over 50 mph.

This new development is an interesting new twist into the current job I hold, and I have mixed feelings about it.

Coaches are control freaks, and if they don’t get their film on time they are not happy campers. The only people to get that done are people like myself and my co-workers who sit at computers and punch keys to cut the film. It’s quick and efficient.

While I know nothing of the new XOS system, I have worked closely with XOS products over the years (including the three-year reign of Brian Kelly at UC) and they are top-of-the-line products. I’m interested to find out more about how these fiber optic cable camera system works.

On one hand, I’m excited to see Notre Dame step up and make a stand on worker safety, but on the other hand, I worry. How many schools will see these systems as a waste of money?

‘Throw a kid up there, it can’t happen to us,’ they may think. They are wrong.

While many schools will still rely on hydraulic lifts to film practice, at least Notre Dame has made a stance trying to prevent tragedies like Declan Sullivan’s death from occurring to them. It’s a step in the right direction, and I applaud the move by the Irish.
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For more on the Sullivan story from ESPN and the AP, click this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6192497

For one of the best stories I’ve ever seen written in my life, check out Ryan McGee’s “Up in the Wind” story from last year: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/blog?name=mcgee_ncf_ryan&month=october-2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2fblog%3fname%3dmcgee_ncf_ryan%26month%3doctober-2010

If you don’t understand our job, you will after you read McGee’s article.