Stage Builder Cited, Fined $63K in Indiana Collapse

The company that built the stage ahead of last summer's deadly Indiana State Fair collapse showed "plain indifference" to safety standards, according to the state Labor Department. Mid-America Sound Corp. has been cited with three major safety violations in connection with the Aug. 13 collapse that killed seven and left 58 injured. "The evidence demonstrated that the Mid-America Sound Corp. was aware of the appropriate requirements and demonstrated a plain indifference to complying with those requirements," an official told reporters at the release of an Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration report on the collapse.

The department issued a $63,000 fine against the company. It is also citing the Indiana State Fair Commission, which officials say failed to conduct proper safety evaluations of its concert venues, and a stagehands union for safety regulation violations. The official noted that the OSHA report investigated workplace violations but was not aimed at determining what caused the collapse. Click for more on the tragedy. (More Indiana stories.)