Turner Field: Staying safe at the stadium

Atlanta Braves

Turner Field: Staying safe at the stadium

Perspective views of Turner Field architecture, following a fan's death due to falling.

Turner Field is a great place to have fun but, as evidenced by the death of a fan who fell 150 feet in an internal stairwell at the May 21 Mets-Braves game, fans must respect the stadium's architecture. Here, ex-Brave Marcus Giles checks out the field from the vantage point of the outfield title banners, far above the stands in 2005.

A man walks through the concourse level at Turner Field Thursday where 25-year-old Justin Hayes fell to his death at Wednesday night's Braves vs. Mets game. Hayes fell from where this photograph was taken to nearly the concrete level at the bottom of the photograph.

Hayes isn't the first Turner Field fatality. When the stadium was being built for the Atlanta Olympics, construction worker Jack Falls (center) was killed May 20, 1995, when the light tower he was working on collapsed.

Stairways leading to the upper levels, while fairly wide, are nevertheless steep.

As any fan who's spent a game in the dollar seats can tell you, it's a long way to the upper deck.

Looking down from the upper deck seats along left field, fans get quite a vertical view of the stands below.

During 1995 Olympic Stadium construction, iron workers level supports on which upper tier seating was later attached.

Coca-Cola Sky Field, a 23,000 square foot fan pavilion, is 80 feet above the left field surface.

Unlike the old Atlanta Stadium circular walkways, which were cramped and enclosed, Turner Field's breezeways were designed to be broad and open. Railings are thin and walkways are constructed so fans can look down on the various levels, contributing to the "airy" feel of the park.

Turner Field's highest tier of seats looms over the upper deck concourse and lower levels, including deep stairwells built within the brick exterior. Fans can easily peer over the open railings.

Walkways through seating areas around Turner Field include 12 miles of handrails.

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Turner Field is a great place to have fun but, as evidenced by the death of a fan who fell 150 feet in an internal stairwell at the May 21 Mets-Braves game, fans must respect the stadium's architecture. Here, ex-Brave Marcus Giles checks out the field from the vantage point of the outfield title banners, far above the stands in 2005.

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