Safety Tips for Avoiding Danger and Injury in Halloween Haunted Houses

The haunted house injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC realize that you might be surprised to learn that working in a haunted house is usually more dangerous than visiting one. While some guests, who have paid to be scared by the way, might become overly frightened and faint, run into walls, or trip and fall while trying to escape, the majority of serious haunted house injuries and the occasional deaths occur among the haunted house employees.

It’s fairly common for employees to suffer minor throat injury from excessive screaming for their roles. Some suffer elbow and arm fatigue from repeatedly lifting cleavers, swords, or just plain acting as zombies. Our haunted house injury lawyers emphasize that the more effective the employees are in scaring the patrons, apparently the more likely they are to be bit or punched.

And you might remember that a couple of years ago, a young woman paid to frighten guests in a noose scene at the Creepyworld haunted house was hung and found dead at the site by another employee. Read more about the Halloween haunted house hanging.

What should be good fun often turns into serious injuries for haunted house workers. Broken noses are the most common injury as startled and intimidated guests react against those frightening them. But some people seem to visit the haunted houses deliberately to hurl verbal taunts and occasionally hard objects at workers, many of whom might be teens in costumes. Some workers have reported guests that deliberately try to set the faux monsters, ghosts, and goblins (usually young people in costume) on fire. Our haunted house injury lawyers note that some haunted houses have police officers and security staff on site to monitor the premises.

For whatever bizarre reason, many folk seem to believe that Halloween gives them “open season” on the costumed workers. They do things inside haunted houses that they (probably, we hope) wouldn’t do elsewhere. They grope. They kick. They bite and punch. They taunt. They try to light fires.

Often frightened guests will punch, bite, or kick employees when they become frightened. A natural reaction to sudden startlement and invasion of personal space is to raise the elbow at a sharp angle, which often hurts haunted house employees.

Our haunted house injury lawyers understand why frightened guests might try to escape the haunted house quickly. But if exit signs are not lit, frightened guests could suffer injury and cause damage to the premises or the employees as they try to escape their fears. In Indiana, government inspectors tour the many haunted houses each year to make sure that exit signs are lit, exits are not blocked, fire alarms are working, fire extinguishers are readily available, sprinklers and backup lighting work, and the premises are safe for both guests and workers. Haunted house operators in Indiana have come to expect the inspections, so safety compliance is apparently quite high.

Safety Tips for Haunted House Guests:

• Do not take young children inside who are easily frightened. Most haunted houses are designed for teens and adults.
• Our haunted house injury lawyers recommend that you look for lit exit signs and fire extinguishers.
• Try to find out if the haunted house has evacuation plans in case there’s a fire or accident, and whether they have a plan to evacuate a guest who passes out from fright.
• Is there security on site in case anyone starts to taunt, grope, or threaten injury?

Safety Tips for Haunted House Employees:

• Find out if there’s any security on site, or plans in place for protecting employees.
• Check whether exit signs are lit and whether fire extinguishers and exits are available and unblocked.
• Find out if there’s an evacuation plan.
• Determine whether sprinklers and fire alarms are in place and if they’re working.
• Is your worksite safe? For instance, if you have a noose scene or a chainsaw, have they been secured so that they’re incapable of doing actual harm?
• Look for thorough employee training that explains the dangers posed by misbehaving patrons and addresses these concerns.
• Keep your distance from patrons if possible, especially those that appear to be looking for confrontations.
• Report any problems immediately to management, security, and/or fellow employees.

Halloween should be HARMLESS fun. There’s enough danger in real life without having to face additional dangers in an entertainment venue. You can meet crazy nod dangerous people just about anywhere. The haunted house injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC reiterate that a Halloween haunted house should be one place where people only “play” crazy to entertain, and never to harm.