For anyone who’s ever worked with or dealt with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, you know that the group is often treated as a punch line under muttered breath.
“Is this vehicle moving a quarter-of-a-mile-an-hour faster really that much of a safety issue?” is the sort of rhetoric you usually find after an OSHA inspection, especially if one has worked in theme parks as this writer has done once upon a time.
All jokes aside, though, every once in a while, however, there are scary incidents that exemplify why, exactly, OSHA exists.
Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, a worker suffered severe injuries after falling 50 feet from the scoreboard, according to a harrowing report from local ABC affiliate WTAE-TV.
The Pittsburgh Public Safety Department posted more details on Facebook:
“At approximately 10:00 p.m., Pittsburgh EMS, Fire, and Police responded to Acrisure Stadium for reports of a male worker who had fallen from a height,” the safety department posted.
“Arriving first responders learned from other personnel working in the stadium that the male had fallen about 50 feet from the main scoreboard to a mid-level catwalk area.
“Rescue medics and firefighters were able to reach the patient, stabilize him, and load him into a Stokes basket, before lowering him to a waiting ambulance using a rope system.
“The male suffered severe injuries mainly to his lower extremities and was transported to the hospital in critical condition.”
According to WTAE’s most recent report, the man’s identity is still unknown, and he is still in critical condition at Allegheny General Hospital.
WTAE also reached out to OSHA for comment, but was met with an automated message saying the group isn’t operating at full capacity due to the ongoing government shutdown:
Radio host and reporter Marty Griffin, however, definitely reported that OSHA is investigating the incident, while including video of just how ominously tall that fall was:
NBC Sports videographer fell from the top of this scoreboard last night!
Prepping for the game.
Fell 50 feet.
Remains in critical condition.
OSHA investigating. pic.twitter.com/KoHWnRS8Ut— Marty Griffin (@MartyGriffinKD) October 27, 2025
The injured worker was setting things up for the Sunday Night Football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers.
It’s unclear whether the worker was a local contractor or a part of the SNF crew. It’s also unclear whether the injured worker was a fan of the local Steelers.
If he was, SNF ended with insult to serious injury, as the Steelers fell to the Packers 35-25, in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score would suggest.
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