Tennessee Film Workers Union Organizes Safety Course After Fatal Train Accident In Georgia

The movie “October Sky” filmed a train in East Tennessee in 1998. Credit: Arthur Miller

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development is pumping $3,000 into sponsoring a safety class for film workers that would teach them how to shoot safely around train tracks.

This comes after a deadly accident on a movie set in Georgia earlier this year. The crew for the movie Midnight Rider was attempting to film a scene on railroad tracks when a train rushed toward them, killing a camera assistant. The railroad company CSX alleges it denied permission for the film crew to be on the tracks.

Movies and TV shows shot in Tennessee also often spend time around train tracks, says Peter Kurland. Kurland is the business agent for IATSE Local 492 — the union that represents film workers in Tennessee and northern Mississippi, which is organizing the train safety class.

“A surprising amount of [filming] takes place on railroad tracks,” he says. “I personally have worked on shows in Tennessee where we shot on railroad tracks. Without having taken the class myself yet, I’m not sure when we have and when we haven’t followed the rules.”

There are regulations in place to keep film crews safe, Kurland says — the problem is that most crew members simply don’t know the proper protocol. For example, they’re supposed to get permission from the railroad and have a representative on set to communicate with the trains.

Kurland says the union is also inviting supervisors and producers to the safety class at the end of the month. Not only is it important for them to be safe, he says, but they are also the people deciding where to send out the crews.