Although buildings’ safety features are designed to blenddiscreetly into the interior, they serve an important role inkeeping civilians safe.
Landscape architecture professor John Kevin Risk filed a lawsuitin December 2002 after being trapped in the Huey P. Long FieldHouse with no means of escape or technology to seek help.
On a weekend evening in May 2002, Risk was changing clothes inthe men’s locker room in the Field House after swimming in the HueyP. Long swimming pool, according to his lawsuit. The Field House isadjacent to the pool.
University staff members closed and locked the only entrance tothe locker room and left the premises for the day, trapping Risk inthe locker room.
Risk could not alert authorities because there was no telephoneor operating fire or security alarm systems. According to thelawsuit, he was trapped in the unlighted, unventilated room withouta fire exit, fire escape or ground floor window.
Risk spent more than an hour trying to escape. He alerted ajogger, who alerted LSU Police. The officer saw Risk, but he leftwithout helping Risk escape, according to the lawsuit.
Believing that University staff would not assist him untilmorning, Risk tried to escape the locker room through asecond-story window by climbing out of the building, grippingindentations in the building’s facade and using a nearby piperunning vertically along the building’s side. Risk fell from thewindow to the sidewalk below and seriously injured himself,according to the lawsuit.
Risk sued the University, citing the cause of the accident as”negligence, fault, strict liability and/or omissions of LSU,acting through its employees and agents.” According to the lawsuit,the University failed to ensure that no one was in the locker roomprior to locking it shut.
The building also had no fire or emergency exits in the lockerroom that would have allowed Risk to safely exit the room. Therealso were no fire or security alarms or a telephone in the lockerroom for Risk to summon emergency assistance, according to thelawsuit. The lawsuit also said the University failed to provideRisk with assistance when an LSUPD officer learned Risk wastrapped.
Pat West, a safety officer at the Office of Occupational andEnvironmental Safety, said the National Fire Protection Associationrequires the University to comply with codes, and all of theUniversity’s buildings are inspected annually to ensure that properprocedures are done to secure doors in case of fire and to ensurethe fire resistance rating of the doors, as well as otherregulations, are within code regulations.
West said the inspections are like “housekeeping” for thebuildings to keep them safe and up-to-date.
He said the Field House’s door has a double-key deadbolt, whichrequires a key to operate it on both sides. According to thelawsuit, Risk was locked in the building without a key to open thedoor from the inside.
Mike Giles, associate director of sports at the LSU RecreationalCenter, worked at the building. The Field House is now closed forrenovations. Giles said most facilities on campus havedeadbolts.
“At the time, there were deadbolts [on the Field House doors]for security reasons on both men’s and women’s bathrooms,” Gilessaid. “The deadbolts have been removed and are now closed forrenovations.”
Giles said the building at one time was very accessible afterhours. People could get into the upper level track area and accessthe bathrooms and pool deck after University staff had left, whichwas a potential hazard for the facility when the pool wasunsupervised.