A Disney owned film production company, Foodles Production, has been fined with £1.6 million following an accident in June 2014 that had affected veteran actor, Harrison Ford, severely.
The 74-year old star was reported to have been knocked to the ground and pinned down by a very heavy hydraulic door while filming for the Star Wars reboot, The Force Awakens at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.
“He could have been killed by the door on the set of the Millennium Falcon spaceship which crushed him like a blunt-edged guillotine.”, a court heard. As a result of the accident, Ford suffered from fractures in his fibula and a dislocated ankle.
At the Foodles Production’s sentence hearing, prosecutor Andrew Marshall said the hydraulically powered sliding door was designed to “ensure rapid closure”. However, the necessary safety procedures were not taken.
“The door was designed for a film but that is just a species of work place where the same requirements of safety are imposed as anywhere else.”
The lawyer explained that the spaceship door was “operated by a person sitting behind a screen and pressing the button”.
