Construction begins March 8 in South Bend, Indiana on a remote video system for taping the Notre Dame football practice fields. This will make obsolete elevated scissor lifts such as the one that toppled in historically high winds on Oct. 27th, killing Notre Dame student videographer Declan Sullivan.
This initiative is the first positive consequence to come from the tragic loss of a kid who was needlessly taken from us way too soon.
Two investigations into the accident are still ongoing: an internal ND study, and another by the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
According to the ND Newswire:
The system is expected to be fully operational when the football team begins spring practice March 23.
In addition to designing an innovative new system, XOS will make a donation to the Declan Drumm Sullivan Memorial Fund.
Designed by XOS Digital, the first-of-its-kind outdoor remote video system includes four Panasonic cameras mounted on 50-foot poles – one on the south ends of each of the three LaBar Football Practice Fields, and one on the north end of field No. 1. The cameras will be housed in temperature-controlled units, and a fiber-optic network will transmit video to a control room in the Guglielmino Athletics Complex, where members of the athletics video services department will be able to edit and produce various materials for coaches and players.
Video department personnel will continue to manually operate cameras from the two permanent structures on the sidelines of the practice fields.
The President of the University, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. released a statement.
“I said in the days after Declan’s death that we would do everything in our power to make changes to ensure that such an accident does not happen again – here or elsewhere,” said Notre Dame’s president. “This system puts safety at the forefront in a completely new and innovative way.”