Ride Accidents

[Randy23]

Making News.....

A LITTLE boy is in a critical condition after he was thrown 10m from a show ride at the Mary MacKillop Catholic School fete. The five-year-old came off a ride called 'The Frisbee' just after 2pm and sustained serious head injuries including an skull fracture. It is believed that the boy was on the ride without the company of an adult. Police detectives, along with the forensic crash unit and Occupation Health and Safety officers, are investigating how the boy came free of the ride.

Reporters State: "The boy was flung into the fence then ended up flying into the Fairy Floss Stand".

Two ambulance crews attended the scene to transport the boy to the Toowoomba Hospital where he was met by the AGL Action Rescue Helicopter. The helicopter's flight doctor and flight paramedic stabilised the boy before he was airlifted to Mater Children's Hospital in Brisbane. He is in a critical condition.

(Same Ride Picture Below) Company: Carnival Land Amusements

[www worker]

There's a reason for height restrictions

[Randy23]

MINIMUM HEIGHT: 130cm unaccompanied or 110cm accompanied by an adult. I dont think a 5 year would be 130cms.

[colliric_855]

Poor kid.

MINIMUM HEIGHT: 130cm unaccompanied or 110cm accompanied by an adult. I dont think a 5 year would be 130cms.

Ride opearators should have measured his height, and the parents should have been supervising.

[strop]

On the news they claimed a witness said that the boy had ridden the ride earlier in the day with a parent, but had been allowed back on with a friend. Somebody from one of the emergency services said they believed the accident was because the height restrictions had not been adhered to (sorry if my recollection is a little vague, I was simultaneously trying to distract my 5yo from the tele to avoid him developing a fear of rides).

[Randy23]

On the news they claimed a witness said that the boy had ridden the ride earlier in the day with a parent, but had been allowed back on with a friend. Somebody from one of the emergency services said they believed the accident was because the height restrictions had not been adhered to (sorry if my recollection is a little vague, I was simultaneously trying to distract my 5yo from the tele to avoid him developing a fear of rides).

I did get news that apparently Carnivalland Amusements dropped the height requirements so they can have more kids rides. : The thing is that they need to check everytime no matter what. Sometimes operators feel lazy around the afternoon because they would of known that the kid would of already been on, so they wouldn't bother checking.

The ride must of went pretty fast for the kid to land from a gate to the top of a tent.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Pretty sure this ride is identical to 'stingray' formerly of Dreamworld... Anyone remember what Stingray's height requirement was?

[Randy23]

The height was 110cm for stingray at Dreamworld. But that was a tame ride. This one is a bit more faster.

[liz.wis]

My daughter will be 5 at the end of the year, and is tall for her age hit 110cm recently, so that's a huge difference to 130.

[Monkeypie]

My son is 5 1/2 and is big for his age also but he is only about 120cm, he was too short to go on Funnelweb at Jamberoo a couple of months ago. Most rides he has to go on with me or his Dad.

[bladex]

Poor kid. Ride opearators should have measured his height, and the parents should have been supervising.

carny rides run by carnys what did you expect?

[colliric_855]

carny rides run by carnys what did you expect?

Health and Safety regulations to be respected!

[Randy23]

From there Web Site "We at Carnival Land Amusements are strongly committed to the "hands on" approach to management. Al our staff are experienced and trained to ensure maximum success and safety. They all hold current Child Safety Blue Cards. Our reputation of professionalism and reliability is second to none. We will arrive on site well before the starting time to ensure that everything is set up and ready to go, on time, every time, so that safety of all concerned is assured. All of our amusement rides in Brisbane and the Gold Coast are maintained and annually tested by our engineer and maintenance crew to ensure all the equipment runs smoothly. At Carnival Land Amusements we are proud of our outstanding record of reliability and safety."

"This ride A real crowd pleaser! It starts spinning anti clockwise, builds through an off centre motion with centrifugal force pushing you to the edges of your seat." It sure does push you on the edge of your seat

NEWS: The Kid was measured at 110cms so now they are wondering why he was let on with his friend who wasn't an Adult. The Ride will remain at the school as OHS etc will be arriving tomorrow.

[Gazza]

Its happened before it seems:

[Randy23]

Its happened before it seems:

Well one, it's not the same ride it's different and two, age difference.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

There are a number of possibilities in this situation - so I want to put a hypothetical to you:

first the facts:

The ride had an unsupervised rider height requirement of 130 cm

It also had a supervised rider height requirement of 110cm (with adult).

Now:

Consider the possibility that the kid is in line with his friend, and is either immediately before or after an adult, or teenager that appears to be related to them. They might be talking together (some adults randomly engage young children in queue lines to discuss the ride, whether they're scared - i've seen many mothers do this with children who aren't theirs to sometimes allay their own concerns, of those of their own children.), and this may have led the operator taking tickets to view the child as 'accompanied' and therefore meeting the 110cm height requirement admitted him on the ride.

Next consider the possibility of harness restraint checking. In most of our theme parks, operators physically come and pull on the restraint to check it - thereby eyeballing each rider. In the case of a carny ride - i have seen some carny operators who dispatch the ride manually, and allow it to complete a slow rotation before engaging the 'program' mode of the ride (some operators may recognise what i mean when i say a jogshuttle button). Doing this permits the operator in the booth to visually check that all harness restraints are in a locked position (it's usually very easy to spot as the handle has to be updown. THe booth operator can't see the kid standing, and if he's on the ride, he may assume the ticket-taker has height checked the kid against the "130cm-unaccompanied" measurement, rather than wondering where the supervising adult is.

Is there a flaw in this safety procedure? Yes - it gets screwed up by two people assuming. But while the assumptions may seem ludicrous, the booth operator has to be able to rely on the ticket taker because he can't stick a yardstick against every kid that gets on the ride - so the ticket taker is the one at fault here.

However - the only way to fix that is for the taker to stop every kid at the gate who is between 110 and 130, and ask them who their parent guardian adult is. Seems simple, but many adults (especially when they're standing right next to the kid) would be upset or angered by the ticket taker asking such an obvious question... yet in this scenario - it was obvious to the ticket taker the kid was with an adult... so why should they have asked?

It is an unfortunate occurrence, and i'm glad to hear that as of last night the kid is breathing without a respirator, and yes there does need to be a review into how the ride operators ensure the safety of riders on the ride (which may require them scrapping the 110cm limit and just running a 130cm limit... thereby losing money on the ride, but my point is - many people will stand around speculating what caused it, and it most likely was an operator error... but those that jump to conclusions (like 'they should have checked his height') should allow for the other possibles and not assume... that was the operator's error too.

[colliric_855]

Your scenario sounds eerily similar to what I remember of the infamous Scenic Railway derailment of the mid 1980s in which 20 people were seriously injured. The ride operators used Visual/Sound checks at the time, along with the original signal system, in order to keep track of where the trains were. Didn't notice one had come to a complete stop because of the brakesman stuffing up. Thus the infamous Melbourne urban legend "20 people DIED on this rollercoaster once"(combining this accident with a previous one where a woman died... Also in the 80s) began.

Edited May 22, 2013 by colliric_855