Investigators cite missing bolts in collapse

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Missing bolts and improperly attached ribbons were to blame for the collapse of a giant frame at the July 4 opening of the National Constitution Center, according to investigators hired to get to the bottom of the mishap.
The 650-pound frame toppled in the final moments of the building's dedication ceremony, slightly injuring five people and narrowly missing the guest of honor, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Constitution Center President Joseph Torsella, who suffered a mild concussion in the accident, said Thursday that a Washington, D.C., consulting firm concluded that bolts that were to have attached the frame to the stage were never installed and ribbons hanging from its top that were to have snapped when guests pulled on them were too firmly attached.
When the guests yanked, they pulled the frame on top of themselves, the report said. The ribbons were to have fluttered to the ground while, in the background, a curtain dropped to reveal people mimicking the poses in the Howard Chandler Christy painting, "Signing of the Constitution."
Investigators blamed the oversight on communication errors at the staging company responsible for the set's construction, Q-We Get It.
Torsella, though, called both mistakes "simple human error" and said the firm, which had previously accepted responsibility for the accident, shouldn't be judged by one mistake.
"Everybody's absolved," Torsella said, smiling.