Foodles Production company was given the fine over an injury to Harrison Ford’s leg that occurred during the filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Harrison Ford could have died in Star Wars set incident, court hears Read more

A British firm owned by Disney has been fined £1.6m ($2m) on Wednesday for health and safety breaches after Harrison Ford was crushed by a hydraulic door on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2014.



Foodles production company faced sentence today at Aylesbury Crown Court after previously pleading guilty to two counts of breaching its health and safety duties. A court had formerly been told that Ford could have been killed in the incident while filming at Pinewood Studios in London.

On Wednesday, a court was told the door acted like a “blunt guillotine”, coming down “millimeters from his face” as the star passed underneath, pinning him to the ground by the pelvis.

The actor sustained severe injuries from the accident, including a broken left leg, after he walked on to the set not believing it to be live. Ford was reprising his role as Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in June 2014 when he was knocked to the ground and crushed beneath the heavy door of the Millennium Falcon while filming at Pinewood Studios in London.

Judge Francis Sheridan said the firm had failed to communicate effectively with Ford: “The greatest failing of all on behalf of the company is a lack of communication, a lack because, if you have a risk assessment and you do not communicate it, what is the point of having one? That is the most serious breach here.

“If only they had included Mr Ford in all the discussions, he might have at least been alert to the dangers that he had to avoid,” he added.

Ford needed surgery to screw together the fractured tibia and fibula bones in his left leg and plastic surgery on a “deep laceration” to his left hand.

Prosecutor Andrew Marshall recounted how Ford had gone through the door on the set with another actor and hit a button during a second dress rehearsal. Walking back through the door, Ford believed the set was not live and the door would not close because it had not done so during previous rehearsals.



The door was designed to be remotely closed by a special effects operator, who shut it upon a signal from a spotter. Staff were said to have reacted quickly to stop the door from coming down, but ultimately were not fast enough to prevent it closing, stopping at about 90% shut. Marshall said the door was “capable of killing one or possibly two people”.

Reading part of Ford’s statement to the court, Marshall said: “The protocol was not followed and the scene was done differently to how it would be if it was to be closed.”

Speaking about the injury to talk-show host Jonathan Ross in December, Ford said the hydraulics involved in the Millennium Falcon had considerably developed since 1977 when the doors were controlled with a pulley operated by hand.

Ford said: “Now we had lots of money and technology and so they built a fucking great hydraulic door which closed at light speed and somebody said, ‘Ooh I wonder what this is?’

“And the door came down and hit me on my left hip because I was turned to my right. And then it flung my left leg up and it dislocated my ankle and as it drove me down to the floor, my legs slapped on the ramp up to the Millennium Falcon and broke both bones in my left leg.”

Foodles issued a statement in response to the ruling. “The safety of our cast and crew was always a top priority and we deeply regret this unfortunate on-set accident. The Court acknowledged both the additional safety protocols that were immediately implemented, and that it was a very safe production in all other respects.”

Ford recovered from the injuries in time to complete his portrayal of Han Solo in the film, which took more than $2bn worldwide.