Not to be rude, but then apparently you've never worked with a government agency before
In all seriousness, the safety harness system is in place for safety, but it should never have to be used. There was obviously a serious mistake error defect or incident with the rigging, and before they'll allow the carpet to fly again CalOSHA will absolutely require a report that states exactly what happened, exactly why it happened, and either A) why that was a one time thing that should never happen again or B) what changes have been made to keep it from recurring.
I suspect the powers that be are optimistic that they'll get the green light "soon" which is why they haven't made more extensive staging changes... but "soon" in government time can be three years, easily, on a workplace safety issue.