Editor's note: The following story contains photographs of mock accident scenes with make-up effects, including fake blood.
The blood-curdling screams ripped through the unseasonably warm Thursday morning air, as passersby on LeMarchant Street stopped to catch a glimpse at what had transpired at Dal鈥檚 Mona Campbell Building.
Inside the open loading bay, a young woman was lying on the cold concrete floor, covered in blood. A ladder was on the ground beside her. Did she fall? Was she struck? As she clutched her face, a crew of first responders tended to her while awaiting an ambulance, at the same time starting to take steps to figure what the heck had just happened.
Incredibly, her鈥檚 weren鈥檛 the only screams in the Mona Campbell Building that morning. Almost at the exact same time, another group of responders arrived in the building鈥檚 basement to the scene of what appeared to be some sort of chemical burn. A custodian shrieked as her supervisor tended to her scarred, inflamed face, panicking over what to do as the rest of the accident investigation team arrived on the scene.
Thankfully, the gory bits were just makeup, and the 鈥渧ictims,鈥� 鈥渟upervisors鈥� and 鈥渨itnesses鈥� just actors: students from Dal鈥檚 Fountain School of Performing Arts, in fact, who were helping bring the simulation to life. The responders were students themselves, from the College of Continuing Education, completing their 鈥渇inal examination鈥� in the advanced-level Accident Investigation course.
Student actor Meg Fenchak is tended to after her "accident." 听
Solving the puzzle
Part of the College of Continuing Education鈥檚 Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Management certificate program, the four-day Accident Investigation course is typically taken by professionals working in the field, exposing them to the background, understanding and methods needed to conduct a thorough and effective investigation of a workplace accident.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 dig down to the root cause of an accident, then you can鈥檛 stop it from happening again,鈥� said Vince Garnier, the course鈥檚 instructor. 鈥淪o we teach a lot of accident theory before transitioning to investigation methodology: how to approach a scene, caring for the injured worker, understanding what is evidence and what is not.鈥�
Garnier has more than 34 years of experience in the field, covering both law enforcement and OHS public policy and regulatory enforcement. He鈥檚 hired by the College of Continuing Education to teach the Accident Investigation course, typically offered twice a year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 almost like a puzzle,鈥� says Garnier, pointing around to some of the various pieces of evidence in the loading bay scenario. 鈥淵ou have a 500-piece puzzle: you have to find all the pieces, put them together, and then you have the full picture.鈥�
Downstairs, outside the bathroom where the chemical burn scenario was underway, Steve Job was monitoring the cordoned-off scene. A student in the Accident Investigation course, he鈥檚 nearing the end of a career in the military and looking to get into OHS work. This is the last course needed to complete his OHS Management certificate.
鈥淵ou learn a lot,鈥� he said, highlighting the simulation, in particular, as a valuable part of the experience. 鈥淒oing a realistic situation causes people to react differently to things, makes it more real.鈥�
A unique student experience
鈥淢ore real鈥� is exactly what the student actors from the Fountain School are striving for in each of the two scenarios. Their performances are not scripted: they鈥檙e given a bit of background about their character, and some guidelines on how to react to the response team (one victim, for example, is to be particularly difficult to work with), but moment-by-moment, they鈥檙e improvising.
鈥淲e recently did a lot of improv workshopping [in class], so it was very interesting to try and incorporate everything we鈥檝e been learning lately about acting without a complete script,鈥� said Meg Fenchak, a third-year student who portrayed the loading bay victim.
Claudia Gutierrez-Perez, burn victim, gets examined while waiting for the "ambulance" to arrive.
For Claudia Gutierrez-Perez, a fellow third-year student who took on the role of the burn victim, this was her second time taking part in the exercise; she enjoyed it so much last time the course was taught, she signed up for a return engagement.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really fun,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about being honest to what you鈥檇 be going through in that exact experience, putting yourself in their shoes.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good acting experience to see the full range of the work you can do,鈥� adds Jonah Campbell, also a third-year student. 鈥淣ot all acting has to be on a stage at a theatre; you can do things like this, too.鈥�
The performances (for which the students are paid) don鈥檛 end at the accident site: after their 鈥渨ounds鈥� are tended to, the actors sit down for forensic interviews, answering questions to help the course鈥檚 students complete their final reports outlining what happened. It鈥檚 one more way the student actors help make the experience come alive.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e the ones who help make this real,鈥� says Garnier. 鈥淵ou can sit for several days in class and do theory, but 90 per cent of what people learn is from doing. It has to feel real. Our students, in their course evaluations, always come back and say, 鈥楾hat was the best part of the whole thing. I won鈥檛 forget this stuff.鈥欌��