“Please take care of yourself out there”

Rico Priem also worked as a lighting technician on “SWAT,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Star Trek,” and “Christmas With the Kranks.”

9-1-1 Crew member Rico Priem died in a car accident early Saturday morning.

Priem, who works as a lighting technician on the show, was on his way home from a 14-hour shift on the Fox drama after working on a location shoot for the series from Friday night into Saturday morning.

20th Television, the producer of the show, confirmed the news to Weekly entertainment and shared a statement saying: “On behalf of the studio and everyone at 9-1-1We send our sincere and deepest condolences to Rico Priem’s family and friends.”

Priem was a member of IATSE Local 80 and worked as a lighting technician on a variety of titles, including SWAT, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Star Trek, And Christmas with the crazy people.

EW has reached out to representatives of IATSE Local 80 for comment.

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Fellow union member Nina Moskol posted a memory of Priem on social media, calling him “an extraordinary Best Boy Grip.” She mentioned that she was on set with him on Thursday night and that the two discussed his upcoming retirement plans.

Moskol pointed out that for crew members, the commute is often the riskiest part of their job. “The two most dangerous parts of our day are the commute to work and the commute home,” she wrote. “Please take care of yourselves out there. Hold on tight. Drive carefully. Pull off the road if necessary. Sit down.”

The post also included details of Moskol’s last conversation with Priem on set. “He was close to retiring and had filed his papers,” she wrote. “He had planned his already rich life for retirement, including spending time with his wife, watching his great-nephew grow up, riding his beloved Harley and even still reaching out to stay in touch with his friends. He was so excited about what he had learned about retirement that he wanted to teach the ins and outs of retirement at the local school. We had just talked about all of this stuff Thursday night while sitting at the tailgate of the 10-ton truck.”

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Further details about Priem’s ​​accident remain to be determined, including whether he may have fallen asleep at the wheel or whether the accident was unrelated to the length of his night shift.

But the long hours that increase the risk of the profession have long been a point of contention between studios and the IATSE. In 2021, one of the main issues in negotiating a new contract was limiting long hours on set without adequate rest or changeover times. A normal workday is typically 12 hours.

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IATSE is currently negotiating a new contract, but crew safety in relation to the length of the workday is far from a new issue. In 1997, cameraman Brent Hershman fell asleep at the wheel and died on the way home after a 19-hour workday on the set of Pleasant town. In 2006, cameraman Haskell Wexler shot a documentary, Who needs sleep?, confront IATSE leadership about working conditions in the industry.

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In 2017 Riverdale Star KJ Apa was in a car accident because he fell asleep at the wheel after a day on set. He took responsibility and said he should have stopped and slept. However, he also later noted that his working hours on set had not changed after the accident.

Safety on set has also long been a sensitive issue. In February, a crew member from Marvel Studios’ Miracle Man died after falling from the rafters on set. Last month, several crew members were injured while filming an action sequence for The loading wagon starring Eddie Murphy. And several lawsuits related to the death of camerawoman Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.