Sunset Center bomb threat raises safety concerns

A calm Friday afternoon of classical music at the Sunset Center in Carmel soon gave way to a scene of a bomb threat in the city.

“I was a little scared and weirded out just because it had never happened here before,” said Madison Tapp, a witness.

Luckily, there was nothing more to the bomb threat, and everything went back to normal. But a safety consultant who worked with the former production manager at the center says she is concerned about what she says is a lack of attention to safety by management there.

“The number one thing that came out of my inspection that I reported on is there was no Emergency Action Plan and there was no Injury, Illness and Prevention Plan, which is a requirement of Cal/OSHA,” said Kellie Quinn-Hoffmeister, a safety expert and consultant from Wisconsin.

That issue, she says, came to a head during a January concert, where she says staff apparently held down a fire hatch on the roof above the stage during a rainstorm.

“You’re not supposed to be on the roof in a wind storm and rain where your fire hatch is supposed to come open if there’s a fire, but it’s held together with a rope,” said Quinn-Hoffmeister.

She says this incident, and another accident during a February storm, prompted her and her colleague to draft reports on what safety concerns they had at the center.

Quinn-Hoffmeister eventually submitted her findings to Cal/OSHA, the state’s job safety agency, which levied a $21,000 fine against Sunset Center.

But the Sunset Center’s Executive Director Christine Sandin, who spoke to KION off camera, says they now have all the required plans in place, and that their staff have been highly trained in them.

Sandin also tells me if the public had all the details and facts of what happened during the rainstorm incidents, perhaps they would reach a different conclusion instead of faulting the center.

But Quinn-Hoffmeister believes there should be more collaboration about safety.

“Everyone that is involved, including the city, the fire marshall, the fire chief, the police department, everyone should be collaborative in a public facility,” said Quinn-Hoffmeister.

The Sunset Center is appealing the Cal/OSHA citations, and they seem confident that they will be resolved.