NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – David Gibson Swain, 54, died Jan. 28 in an accidental fall at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. Swain had served as technical director at the PAC, which adjoins the North Charleston Coliseum and Charleston Area Convention Center since the facility opened in 1999.
Reports indicate that Swain was doing routine work by himself using a hydraulic lift capable of extending to about 40 feet at the time of his death. Although no one witnessed the fall, surveillance video showed Swain entering the facility about 40 minutes before the colleague who found him unresponsive after the accident after suffering a severe head injury.
Police were summoned to the facility, where Swain was found on the stage near the basket of the toppled hydraulic lift, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. No events were taking place at the time of the accident, and no one else was injured. OSHA is investigating the accident.
