Field Safety

[Magageddon]

Was at skirmish today for 1/2 price paint day with Araphel, Was probably the worst lack of field safety I've ever seen. Tons of first timers with no barrel plugs masks up on/off the field. Only reason I mention it was that some kid got shot in the eye today, another kid put his upgraded emek down on the table hard and the gun went off 3 times, first shot blew the barrel plug out, next 2 hit the guy in the face mask off from about 6 feet away. I think their the only field I've seen that still use the old rubber barrel plugs as opposed to barrel socks for their rental fleet.

Anyone else know of any fields that still use plugs instead of barrel bags?

[drewkroeker]

My arm doesn't have enough leverage to facepalm hard enough when reacting to crap like this. How tf does this even happen?!? And what is the appropriate action for a bystander like yourself? Do you call 911 or does the staff do that? From what you've described I wouldn't trust the staff to respond properly. Will you be playing there again? It doesn't sound safe at all.

I was at Splatters (Winnipeg MB) today. One kid walked through the safety gates without a barrel bag on his marker. He had taken three steps when two refs and a regular all called out "HEY BUDDY! Get your barrel bag on!" And he put it on. That was the worst thing I saw all day.

[Magageddon]

Thing is that their cell reception/internet is ass, youd be very lucky to make a 911 call go through with how far out in the woods the field is

[Ecapnation]

Skirmish is a shit show.

ITs one of the few fields I refuse to go to anymore.

I forget the year but one ion I had some guys home brew paint cannon explode and launch PVC shrapnel everywhere....it wasn't till I looked at my GoPro footage that I saw the CO2 tank attached to it fly passed me.

Same year I saw a guy with reball stuck into his mask after he got lit up on the beach... Saw another guy have his lense of his goggles shattered from a hit (no Chrono refs) and had a guy run at me shooting two airsoft is.

[ChuckLove]

I've played at Skirmish on three separate occasions and have witnessed this same complete lack of safety every time. The Chrono and field entry points are the most sketchy due to lack of netting and poor supervision of players. It's really a shame. I hope that the person who was shot in the eye is alright.

[SignOfZeta]

It sounds like a place I wouldn’t spend two minutes at. Field safety is #1 for me.

I hope they get sued out of business. Fuck em.

[nak81783]

Wow, that’s really bad.

Unfortunately, many people don’t use barrel socks properly either. Everybody jokes about the “desk pop”, while I’m shaking my head at the barrel sock that got blown off the barrel and the gun being waved around recklessly while putting the sock back on. It needs to be tight. Yes, the elastic may eventually wear out, and your naked chick taking your barrel in one hole or another is going to have to be retired. Too bad.

I also can’t stand the overly sensitive triggers. Why, just why? Again, nothing but laughter and jokes when it goes off. There should be copious amounts of public peer shaming to get the offender’s marker set up right.

[Daniel Tiger]

Went back there for the first time in 20 years few weeks ago and was shocked by the lack of safety. No way to tell who was chronoed and it worked on the honor system. I brought out several markers and the refs never even asked me if I chronoed. I assume the owner (or whoever has the liability) has made enough money that they think they can just let it run itself. Hope that kid is ok but unfortunately, near misses are not gonna change any behavior

[Melrosejedi]

First off, i hope this kid is going to be ok. Secondly, this is so disappointing as i have played so many memorable games at skirmish over the years and it saddens me to hear and experience events like this. I would not expect this from one of the biggest fields in the US, and the owner should address this nonsense before more of us decide not to return to his field. Having a major player like skirmish losing players is not good for our community in general and they should be leading by example. I can’t beleive they still use barrel plugs as they were not allowed at most fields over twenty years ago. Get it together skirmish .

[Chappy]

When was the last time you played there? They are tourist trap paintball, and they don’t care about the community. The owner doesn’t care if you come back, he never has. They got my money once, never again.

[Melrosejedi]

Last year for ion. I sent an email telling them how disappointing the games have became and said they appreciated my input but i think you are correct in your assumption of them.

[Toestr]

Wasaga Beach uses plugs for most if not all their rentals which I thought was strange but they are probably the most safety conscious and well run field I've been to.

[Chappy]

Stop going to skirmish, folks. It’s a garbage field. It may have been special 25+ years ago. But they don’t care. They don’t care if you care if you come back, they don’t care if you have fun, they don’t care if your safe.
If they call the player out you just shot then you’ll stop shooting at them and then you won’t have to buy as much paint. As near as I can tell this is their business model

[Drunkscriblerian]

Daaaaang OP, that's messed up. Like everyone else here I hope that poor kid's okay. And I sure wouldn't play there, not even with someone else's money. It sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Coming back after over 20 years, I have witnessed a kind of "loosening" of safety rules in general though. It seems to me that the sport grew so safe that people have started to not pay attention to the fundamentals that made it so (strict mask/barrel sock discipline, tanks being in hydro/not sketchy, regular chrono checks, etc). At the field I'm currently playing on the staff are as good as they can be about mask/bag safety...but there aren't enough of them, and on busy days I am always telling rookies to put their mask/barrel bag on. Also, for a while their self-serve air station was set up so there was no oversight regarding tanks; anyone could just walk up and fill a tank, no one checking hydro date/tank status. They have since fixed that problem but dang, it never should have been like that.

And chrono? Jeez, polite suggestion at best. Ihave played whole days there and not had a staff member ask me for a chrono check at all. I did anyway as a matter of course (don't want to hurt my fellow players) but I feel like staff should be coming to me on that one. While HPA has made markers randomly going hot largely a thing of the past, everyone should at least be checked once.

I hope this isn't a trend, and if it is it needs to be reversed pronto. Paintball doesn't need any negative press.

[tyronejk]

I don't go to many different fields, but the handful I have been to recently trust the non-rentals to self-regulate their gear. So no chrono checks and no checking hydro dates at the self-serve fill station. But these fields do strictly enforce masks/barrel socks on for all players. I haven't noticed a problem at any fields but I think it may be an effect of the community in the area.

But I haven't see any fields using barrel plugs since I started playing in 2012. I would think insurance companies these days would not even insure fields using barrel plugs.

[Drunkscriblerian]

I don't go to many different fields, but the handful I have been to recently trust the non-rentals to self-regulate their gear. So no chrono checks and no checking hydro dates at the self-serve fill station.

Considering some of the dumbassery that I've observed among owned-gear players over the years, to me this feels like a huge mistake from a liability standpoint. Especially because these days a lot of owned-gear players are minors. Sorry not sorry, but if I ran a field I'm not blindly trusting a 14 year old to know how to properly chrono his marker or make sure his tank is in hydro just because he shows up with his own gear.

[iamthelazerviking]

This reminds me of an indoor field in Utah I used to play at that no longer exists. Aside from never getting cleaned and being a slippery disaster, there was a ref who wore "construction rated" eye glasses and would just hold a mask up to his face while games were played, then drop it between games.

[Tarsun2]

they dont put the neon zip-tie on the chrono'd markers anymore..? wait, when did that stop? christ, how old have i gotten...?
do they still have the liability waiver and the same old safety video?

[Magageddon]

I've gone 3 days in past year for rec days, of those 3 times I've never been asked to chrono my gun, 1 time they gave me the field safety brief, No safety video that I'm aware of and the liability waiver is at the front gate before you walk a mile to the actual field/staging area