OVW Announces New Safety Protocols After Referee Incident

OVW has announced new safety protocols in the wake of referee Dallas Edwards’ medical emergency during a match and the fallout. As you may recall, Edwards suffered a seizure in the ring during OVW’s show earlier this month. He had the seizure after taking a ref bump during the match and the talent in the ring kept going after Edwards was pushed off to the side.

OVW has taken a lot of criticism about the incident, and the promotion posted to Twitter on Monday to announce new safety protocols. The announcement reads as follows:

SAFETY PROTOCOL UPDATES
These immediate protocols mark the start of OVW’s strengthened, ongoing commitment to the health and safety of our talent and everyone involved.

This is a living, evolving effort that will grow as new best practices, tactics, and industry standards emerge. Our focus is long term wellbeing for our talent, crew and fans.

DETECTING EARLY SIGNS OF SEIZURE TRAINING
In partnership with the Epilepsy Foundation of Kentuckiana, OVW will host an April Seizure First Aid Certification Program for talent and staff. This training covers how to recognize different types of seizures, understand their impact, and respond with safe, appropriate first aid. Participants receive a two year certification.

CONCUSSION SAFETY & CTE PREVENTION
In partnership with Chris Nowinski, PhD, Co Founder and CEO of the Concussion & CTE Foundation, OVW will host an April Concussion Safety & CTE Prevention Training for talent and staff. This training will be added to the OVW Academy beginner syllabus moving forward.

ADDITIONAL MEDICAL – STAFF AT RINGSIDE
Through our partnership with Norton Healthcare, OVW will deploy additional trained medical staff at larger events on a case by case basis. Norton Healthcare will also provide CPR training for talent, staff, and contractors.

IN RING & BACK OFFICE – COMMUNICATIONS
In addition to referees and ring announcers being equipped with IFB (in-ear monitoring devices) and our ringside camera crew having production headsets for faster communication with the backstage team, our ringside timekeeper will now have a headset for fast, direct communication with the Director. This allows for immediate decisions to stop a match and check on the talent.

Al Snow issued a statement in the wake of the incident noting that the company would be updating their safety protocols.