Star Wars firm admits charges over Harrison Ford leg break
- Published
Harrison Ford was injured on the set of Star Wars Episode Seven: The Force Awakens in 2014
A production company behind Star Wars has pleaded guilty to two criminal charges after Han Solo actor Harrison Ford broke his leg on set.
The 74-year-old was hit by a hydraulic metal door on the Pinewood set of the Millennium Falcon in June 2014.
Foodles Production (UK) Ltd, a subsidiary of Disney, admitted two of four criminal charges at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court.
The company will be sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on 22 August.
The other two charges were withdrawn.
A hydraulic metal door hit Ford at Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
Prosecuting, Andrew Marshall told the court Ford had gone through the door on the set of Star Wars Episode Seven: The Force Awakens and hit a button before starting to walk back through it, believing the set was not live and that it would not close.
But it was remotely operated by another person, and as Ford passed underneath it, he was hit in the pelvic area and pinned to the ground.
Mr Marshall said there was a "risk of death".
"It could have killed somebody. The fact that it didn't was because an emergency stop was activated," he said.
The cast of Star Wars Episode Seven: The Force Awakens taking part in a read-through at Pinewood Studios
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, said Ford was "badly injured after he became trapped under a rapidly closing metal-framed door".
A spokesman compared the power of the door's drive system "to the weight of a small car".
"This was a foreseeable incident," he said.
"Foodles Production (UK) Ltd has accepted it failed to protect actors and staff and HSE welcomes the firm's guilty plea."
In a statement, Foodles said it had provided "full co-operation" through the HSE investigation.
"The safety of our cast and crew was always a top priority throughout the production," the company said.
- Published11 February 2016
