Luna Park Sydney Ride Injury

[GoGoBoy]

I found this on http://www.australianamusementfanatics.com - ******* Luna Park Sydney Ride Injury The Age January 3, 2007 A 22-year-old Luna Park worker was injured when hit in the head by a ride on Monday night. The man, who was working on the ride at the time, was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital where he remains in a critical condition in intensive care. WorkCover has issued prohibition notices to both the ride's owner Golden Way Amusements and Luna Park, preventing the ride from being used until it is deemed safe. ******** Sounds like it may have occured on one of the temporary rides brought in for the school holidays. I'm not sure which one though as I went past today and they all appeared to be operating

[myk]

I was born at that hospital. Hey look, ride! Where?

[GoGoBoy]

Found out a little more about this. The incident occured on the Extreme Speed Machine. The ride attendant is in a very bad way, believed to be in a coma. For anyone that has seen the ride you would know that if it struck you, you wouldn't get out of it easily. This is one of the problems with Luna Park Sydney bringing in these temporary rides for the holidays. In some cases the staff that run them MAY not have the same level of training as Luna Park staff, particularly in terms of a strict emphasis on safety. This obviously all depends on the individual rides' owner/operator. We don't know the full details regarding this incident but either way I hope for the person involved and his family that he can somehow pull through this

Edited January 6, 2007 by GoGoBoy

[Chaos-Maniac]

If this ride operator dies, or gets compo... Who will pay the price, Luna Park or the ride owners?

[ozshowkid]

What would make you say that gogoboy, are you stupid or something do you think we take risks. So do you ever think about how the original luna park staff got trained. It was from us yes the travelling showies cause the rides ARE EX ROAD MODELS you idiot. We would have the same knowledge if not more because we actually know the mechanical parts of them aswel. just think about it OZshowkid

[aidan]

I know this is pointless but GoGoboi got served!

[GoGoBoy]

I would certainly agree that you may have more knowledge of the actual mechanical parts of the ride etc. The problem with portable rides coming into a permanent park is that there are too many variables. The park doesn't have the same control over the safety standards and training. It would all depend on each individual owner of the different rides. Whereas you would have some owners that are extremely strict on safety and train their staff appropriately, there are others that simply don't have these same standards. I have seen with my own eyes some of the temporary rides that come into Luna Park and the way the staff work on them. And I can tell you that a large number of them treat the rides very casually ie. hanging off moving parts, jumping onto platforms when they haven't finished moving, standing in dangerous areas etc. I'm not sure if it's just because they spend so much time with the ride that a certain aloofnes sets in. You do not find this same behaviour with permanent park staff and if you do it gets nipped in the bud very quickly. By the way ozshowkid feel free to argue your points I am very interested to hear. It would be better if you didn't call me an 'idiot' or 'stupid' though as you will find that's not the way we treat each other on these boards

Edited January 6, 2007 by GoGoBoy

[ozshowkid]

When you work on a ride for a certain amount of years you get to know what is safe and what is not. We know where we can stand where we will not get hit, we know what to do if something does happen. I am a 6th generation showmen, there are opperators that may not be as strict but they certainly train there staff just as much. Let me tell you i have seen plenty people sacked over not doing there job properly. This happens just as much in amusement parks. Why would we try creating more problems for ourselves, think about it Cheers OZshowkid

[GoGoBoy]

Ok I can see your point there. I will edit my other post and re-word it so it's not such a generalisation. Obviously there are both good and bad operators out there. I guess what I was getting at is that by bringing in temporary rides, Luna Park is leaving itself open to more potential issues. They (Luna Park) just don't have that same control over safety standards and staff training as they would if they only used their own rides. They are basically just relying on the ride's owner/operator to do the right thing

[ozshowkid]

When you go in there with a ride you don't just set up and work, you show them your paper work which has all the trained opperators, deck hands and staff all inside it. Every thing is standard know to have all this, it is compulsary. Cheers OZshowkid

[Bussy]

OzShow, having worked at theme parks for around 5 years I know where you are coming from in regards to knowing where to stand etc. However, when I take a look back at some of the stuff I, and other operators used to do on rides, it's scary and I realise now how lucky we were not to be injured or killed. Chaos in answer to your question about the compo, I believe it would be the insurance company for whoever he works for that would pay and depending on what the full story is and the out come from the Workcover inquiry is, the cost will then be collected from Luna Park. "The Bus is now leaving for Compodore Creek, NSW"

[myk]

That sucks for him. He obviously was not properly trained if he walked out while the ride was still running.

[joz]

If the guy walked out in front of the ride when it was moving, then I don't think any amount of training could have saved him.

[rappa]

The thing is there is a big difference between knowing what is 'safe' in regards to what you can get away with and following strict OH&S workplace safety standards. In many cases travelling show operators are their own masters, so they know what is going to get them hurt, no you can jump onto this platform whilst it is slowly moving etc. Much the case of "we've been doing it this way for years, it's fine." I like to call it the 'Use your Common Sense" approach. When it comes to big parks all that common sense goes out the window. The legal department come in and basically treat everyone (no matter how skilled or knowledgeable they may be) like they are a moron and have no idea how the look after themselves. You see policies put in place that would prevent even the stupidest person from injuring themselves. This is why you usually see a higher degree of safety measures (as opposed to safety because the other way really is usually safe) in place when it comes to big companies... So whilst the travelling shows may be just as safe, you will usually see many more steps, however warranted or not that may be, taken by big permanent amusement parks.

[Daniel]

However, when I take a look back at some of the stuff I, and other operators used to do on rides, it's scary and I realise now how lucky we were not to be injured or killed.

You were one crazy mofo Brother Bussy. I can't believe you used to sit on the moving Demon train for example...

[ScreaM...]

You were one crazy mofo Brother Bussy. I can't believe you used to sit on the moving Demon train for example...

Not to mention holding onto the Zodiac gondolas as they lift off... and see how long an operator could last till they let go... Workcover. Important thing people!!

[Bussy]

You were one crazy mofo Brother Bussy. I can't believe you used to sit on the moving Demon train for example...

Not to mention holding onto the Zodiac gondolas as they lift off... and see how long an operator could last till they let go... Workcover. Important thing people!!

I would't do anything like that (looks the other way and slowly walks away). At least no one can hold onto the Probe harnesses while they are going up anymore - looks at both Daniel and Scream. Anyway I have some more info on this, the guy who was injured was in a coma for about 10 days but has since made a good recovery. He was not an employee of Luna Park but was an outside ride contractor brought in for the holiday period. This brings up a question, should Luna Park continue to risk a good safety record by bringing in outside contractors, who may have lower safety standards than they should? "The Bus is now leaving for Comadyne, Western Australia"

[seeyoutheresoon]

I found this on http://www.australianamusementfanatics.com - ******* Luna Park Sydney Ride Injury The Age January 3, 2007 A 22-year-old Luna Park worker was injured when hit in the head by a ride on Monday night. The man, who was working on the ride at the time, was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital where he remains in a critical condition in intensive care. WorkCover has issued prohibition notices to both the ride's owner Golden Way Amusements and Luna Park, preventing the ride from being used until it is deemed safe. ******** Sounds like it may have occured on one of the temporary rides brought in for the school holidays. I'm not sure which one though as I went past today and they all appeared to be operating

i wonder if the attendant was affected by drugs that is something to consider why else would you walk in a area that is deadly saftey is not as good as the park claims i have worked there myself and know more than some would like to admit hey silly billy