Melanie Irene Stuckey, Marco Antonio Coelho Bortoleto, Richard Fleet, Patrice Aubertin, Fred Gerard, Dean Kriellaars
Circus: Arts, Life, and Sciences6/11/2024·DOI·Read paper
Abstract
The objective of this study was to characterize incidents resulting in fatal and non-fatal catastrophic injuries in circus. Since there was no usable data in the scientific literature or occupational databases, a systematic search of the gray literature was used to identify incidents that occurred between January 2000 and March 2020 in which a circus artist or technician incurred catastrophic injury. Mortality rates were estimated. Thirty-eight incidents that resulted in 39 catastrophic injuries (n=20 fatal; n=19 non-fatal, including n=14 spinal cord injury, n=3 serious head injury, n=2 unknown) were described. For artists (n=32), incidents occurred during performance (n=22) and training or rehearsals (n=10), with the majority in the aerial discipline (n=21) followed by ground acrobatics (apparatus propulsion) (n=6). The mechanisms of injury were direct contact with the ground (n=31), direct contact with an object (n=1) and direct contact with another artist (n=1) for artists, and direct contact with an object (n=4) and electrocution (n=2) for technicians. Ten-year mortality rates were estimated as 0/100,000 students, 37.5/100,000 FTE for artists and 25.0/100,000 FTE for technicians. Most catastrophic incidents that occurred in circus contexts were characterized as falls (direct contact with the ground) during professional performance. The understanding gained from these data provides a starting point, but more detailed reporting is needed to properly support informed decision-making to improve safety in circus.
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