Good article by a professional cinematographer / director of photography with 35 years experience.
A comprehensive critique of what happened, especially Gutierrez and Halls.
He also talks about careless attitudes on movie sets in general - this is not a one-off case:
I have seen gung-ho special effects (SFX) and armourers in my lifetime as a DOP. It’s frightening, and I have been very fortunate to not have witnessed serious accidents;
The producers are ultimately responsible for this cavalier attitude towards safety. I’ve seen it on many shoots involving cars, stunts, trains, aircraft, microlights, helicopters, weapons, explosions, wild animals and the use of specialised equipment such as cranes, scuba equipment and smoke. It only takes one accident to take a life. A camera loader gored by an elephant. A talented cameraman killed by a giraffe. A cameraman seriously injured by a train. A news cameraman killed by a large predator in a cage. A stunt that went wrong. A crane that falls over. I’ve experienced my own near misses too.
… and something I haven’t seen elsewhere, some light criticism of Halyna Hutchins too:
Then, unfortunately, there is Halyna Hutchins herself. As the most senior technician on set, she is ultimately responsible for crew safety and care (besides the contractual obligations of the producers). She saw her camera crew leave that morning. She could have protested against shooting the scene, and warned everyone it was unsafe, but as a newish DOP and rising star, she probably didn’t want to make waves.
Completely understandable. Some of us experienced DOPs in the early 2000s were called HMC’s by some producers. I eventually found out what it meant: High Maintenance Cameraman. Truly! So, complaining, or trying to enforce safety protocols when it means time “wasted” in the eyes of the producers, is not usually welcomed, except by real professionals.