‘Tomb Raider’ Series Broke UK Safety Laws During Production

EXCLUSIVE: Lara Croft’s adventures in Amazon MGM Studios‘ new Tomb Raider series proved too much for UK safety authorities.

Britain’s Health and Safety Executive, better known as HSE, concluded that the high-profile drama breached UK safety laws during production at Shinfield Studios earlier this year, according to a previously unreported ruling.

Deadline can reveal that Project Temple Productions Ltd, the special purpose vehicle through which Sophie Turner‘s Tomb Raider series is being produced, breached the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.

Amazon MGM Studios declined to comment.

HSE determined that Project Temple Productions Ltd failed to ensure that crew members underwent “biological monitoring” to ensure adequate control measures were in place for the spraying of isocyanate paints, one of the leading causes of asthma in the workplace.

HSE guidance states that appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn when spraying isocyanate paints, and that an “invisible mist” emitted by the substance can take up to 20 minutes to clear. An employer must know the clearance time for the space in which spraying is taking place.

HSE issued Project Temple with an “improvement notice” in April, meaning the company had to take action to remedy a breach of health and safety law. Within a month, Project Temple had complied with the relevant regulations, according to a notice page on HSE’s website.

It is rare for HSE to issue notices against TV shoots, with just four productions being called out by the health and safety watchdog over the past four years. Tomb Raider was the highest-profile of these productions.

Written by Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Tomb Raider went into production in January, with Amazon MGM Studios releasing a first-look image of Turner as videogame icon Lara Croft.

The HSE ruling has not been the only issue on Tomb Raider. Turner suffered a minor injury during production, resulting in the shoot being paused for around two weeks to allow the Game of Thrones star time to recover.

Amazon MGM Studios produces Tomb Raider for Prime Video with Crystal Dynamics. Turner is joined in the cast by Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Martin Bobb-Semple, Jack Bannon, John Heffernan, Bill Paterson, Paterson Joseph, Sasha Luss, Juliette Motamed, Celia Imrie and August Wittgenstein. 

Waller-Bridge is creator, writer, executive producer and co-showrunner alongside Chad Hodge as co-showrunner and executive producer. Jonathan Van Tulleken is director and executive producer.

Waller-Bridge and Jenny Robins executive produce through Wells Street Films, Dmitri M. Johnson, Michael Lawrence Goldberg and Timothy I. Stevenson through Story Kitchen, Michael Scheel, and Legendary Television. Matt McInnis is a co-executive producer; Jan R. Martin a producer.