The employer of a stagehand who died while working on setup for the Electric Daisy Carnival at Camping World Stadium in Orlando last year has agreed to pay a nearly $20,000 penalty to the U.S. Department of Labor to settle alleged violations of workplace safety law attributed to the worker’s death.
According to a news release from the federal labor department, James Thomas Productions has agreed to pay a proposed penalty from the U.S. DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration following an investigation into the stagehand’s death last October. Meanwhile, events company Stage FX — which also allegedly violated workplace safety law in connection with the incident — has contested a citation from OSHA.
According to a copy of the citation, obtained by Orlando Weekly, Stage FX is facing $31,445 in total penalties for two violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act that the DOL has classified as “serious.” A federal inspection page for the citation levied against James Thomas Productions (a repeat offender based out of California) shows the events company was initially cited a $33,100 penalty, but that fine was eventually reduced. Both received their citations from the DOL in April.
According to the feds, both Stage FX and James Thomas Productions face allegations of “failing to maintain structural stability during the erection of a stage and failing to provide proper employee training on the associated hazards.” Workers on or about Oct. 30, 2024 — the day of the fatal accident — were wrongfully exposed to “crushing hazards,” according to citation records, as they worked to connect and assemble parts of the stages’ roofing sections.
Details on the nature of the employee’s death at the stadium have not been shared publicly. The accident was first reported to the Orlando Police Department on Oct. 30, about a week before the start of the three-day EDC festival, known for its eclectic lineup of electronic music, carnival rides and colorful art installations. The festival will be coming back to Orlando’s Tinker Field at Camping World Stadium later this year in November.
Investigative authorities did not publicly share or confirm the name of the stagehand who died on the job at the time, but others in the festival production industry online identified the worker as Misael Aguirre, a stagehand from Texas. According to the Florida AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, workplace hazards kill approximately 140,000 workers each year, with the vast majority attributed to occupational diseases and a smaller proportion attributed to traumatic injuries.
Transportation accidents account for the greatest share of worker fatalities in Florida, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with falls, slips and trips coming shortly behind, accounting for about 22 percent of workplace deaths recorded in 2023 (the most recent year in which complete data is available).
The federal DOL (facing potential budget cuts under the Trump administration, as it is) can fine employers up to $16,550 for every “serious violation” identified during investigations. But according to the AFL-CIO — which tracks workplace fatality data — the average penalty for a serious violation in 2024 was just $4,083. Meanwhile, the median penalty for a worker’s death on the job last year was just $16,131.
This post has been updated to include additional information from citation records provided by a DOL spokesperson.
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This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2025.