Notre Dame Investigation on kids death

Wow. And I thought it's been tough being a fan of Michigan football. I'm to the point of feeling bad for those supporters of the Irish.  This horrible event has to be like a nightmare, what with the death and on top of that the further ramifications on the football program. We are going thru a walk in the park over here.  My heart goes out to them all, just a sad deal. 

I guess I can't imagine that this was much of a "workplace" type environment for this kid. He probably didn't even consider it a job. My gut feeling about what happened is that the kid was probably a lifelong fan, especially being a student. He was probably insanely pumped just to be around the program, let alone to be a part of it, whatever capacity he was involved. In which case, I doubt he'd be real quick to tell the coaches, "No, I'm too afraid to be up here in the wind to tape your practice.", even though they probably wouldn't have hesitated to say, sure, come on down and we'll do something different. And while I don't believe that it was only a "sudden gust" that blew the lift over, but the prolonged winds of a large storm system, predicted by meteorologists days in advance, there's a good chance that the student, although scared and nervous, didn't realize he was in actual danger until it was too late.

In the article I read about the accident, it was said that noone knew who, if anyone "allowed" the student up on the lift; so maybe it was more his call than anyone else's. Either way, we don't know yet. Maybe the coaches should have noticed and ordered him down, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was largely his own choice to be up there, and I doubt any negligent homicide charges would stick. Assigning blame and determining responsibilities might be nearly impossible.

Anyway, I'm not an expert on ND's program, but I have a cousin in UM's kinesiology school who works with the football team on the sidelines. He's with the team a few days a week,  many, if not most practices, and almost every game, including traveling with the team for the ND and PSU games. Most of the players know him by name. Yet, besides passing by each other in Schembechler Hall and on the side of the field, he and RR, (and pretty much all of the other coaches, for that matter,) have never really communicated. To the coaches, he is one of countless faces he sees daily that are "involved" in some capacity in the program, but is no higher on their radar than the cleaning crew of the Apple corporate offices are on Steve Jobs'. Sure, Brian Kelly is the head of he football program, but he is not directly responsible for each and every individual.

Whatever happens, I feel terrible for the student and his family. What a tragic story. And even though I'm exponetially less of a fan of Kelly's since seeing him handle himself coaching at ND, I feel sorry for the coaches, too. I'm sure they're all pretty shaken by this. If they aren't they defintely should be.

I still can't believe this happened.  It seems like there has to be a risk manager or safety manager for Notre Dame sports operations.  If there is, there should be rules for operating any equipment to standard.

In the manufacturing world there are basic safety tools like a job safety analysis that spells out when equipment can and cannot be used.  How about a simple pre-task analysis checklist.....if wind gusts exceed blank then do not operate above blank feet?  The hazards for every job should be spelled out on a piece of paper.  There just is no excuse for this to happen.  I feel so bad for his family.