Thunder River Rapids Incident Coronial Inquest

[Brad2912]

2 hours ago, Levithian said:

Imagine its similar when they go to something like a theme park instead of a building site.

 

I did too, but clearly not if they did nothing about a ride that was modified without permission notification in the “late 80s” and was still operating in what WHSQ say was unsafe in 2016! Did they never inspect it for over 25 years? 

[pin142]

It is hard to say if there was a inspection done after the 2001 incident. The park reported the incident via phone to WHSQ yet no paperwork can be found about it on the WHSQ end only the report that Dreamworld sent. The park was told the phone call was sufficient for reporting it. When preparing documents for the inquiry paperwork could only be found as far back as December 2001 and the first case of rafts getting caught and flipping happened in January 2001 so there is no paperwork relating to the 2001 incident able to be located. The ride since 2004 had been inspected by five different inspectors. 

I was at the inquest Monday afternoon for those wondering where I got this information from.

[Jdude95]

You'd think that if a theme park made such a ridiculous request of WHSQ, that an inspector would be sent out to figure out why they are making such stupid requests.

[red dragin]

I used to look after residential apartment buildings. Every year I had to fit the "registration of plant" letter from WHSQ into the lift. It always arrived well after the previous one had expired (but payment had been made before the due date so was ok).

Never saw a WHSQ inspector. Best I can figure is that the lift service company was self assessing their work to be competent and compliant. As the equivalent of a ride operator (training on operation but nothing more), I had to trust that those above me where doing their job correctly.

I think WHSQ only investigate serious complaints and injuries/deaths.

Edited November 21, 2018 by red dragin

[Jdude95]

So I was at DW today checking out how they are going with iRide and gold rush. 

There’s been bulk earthworks going on.

so here’s some photos of gold rush and TRRR in its current state 

[joz]

Wait are they just burying it?

[Jdude95]

I thought the same thing originally. They are slowly removing the troughs and backfilling with dirt from WWW. 

[Jamberoo Fan]

On 20/11/2018 at 5:25 PM, Brad2912 said:

Crucially, at some time in the late 1980s, two out of every three slats on the conveyor belt were removed, which Mr Tan said made the ride ‘even more hazardous’.

@Brad2912, does the source of your information have any more detail on the quote above?

Or anyone who was at the coronial inquest, can you provide more information about the above quote's context within the inquest proceedings?

As it contradicts with this Parkz article stating that the slats were removed after 1993:

Quote

Thunder River Rapids in 2008. Each full-width slat is spaced out by two wooden blocks that leave large gaps in the lift hill.

Thunder River Rapids, as it appears as far back as 2008 until present, features fewer wooden slats than most similar rides. Two spacer blocks of wood exist where it appears full slats would once have sat, leaving large voids in the conveyor belt.

Home movie footage shows that as far back as 1993, many more slats were present on the lift hill.

At some point between 1993 and 2008, it would seem that the lift hill was modified and the gaps between each slat was significantly increased.

The only way the Parkz article is wrong is if the video uploader got the year of the video wrong.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Jamberoo Fan

[pushbutton]

2 hours ago, Jdude95 said:

So I was at DW today checking out how they are going with iRide and gold rush. 

There’s been bulk earthworks going on.

so here’s some photos of gold rush and TRRR in its current state 

Some quality theme park dirt in them photos. A little bit too chunky for my liking in parts, but I'm being too finicky! On the whole,  quality dirt!

[rappa]

Please if the post contains 20 photos... don’t quote them 

[New display name]

31 minutes ago, Jamberoo Fan said:

@Brad2912, does the source of your information have any more detail on the quote above?

Or anyone who was at the coronial inquest, can you provide more information about the above quote's context within the inquest proceedings?

As it contradicts with this Parkz article stating that the slats were removed after 1993:

The only way the Parkz article is wrong is if the video uploader got the year of the video wrong.

A bit from A and a bit from B but @Richard is correct in his dates of when 2 from every 3 was the final result.  Not long after the opening DW starting removing some planks.  The conveyor was to  heavy and the chains kept breaking.  If you look closely in that video, at the end you can see a plank missing.   Over the years as the chains aged, more and more planks were removed.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Skeeta

[Jamberoo Fan]

Quote

The first 15 seconds and briefly from 3:15-3:20, this video dated as 1993 appears to show densely placed slats on the conveyor belt, more consistent with other similar rides.

Thanks @Skeeta. In the latter section of the video (quote above from the Parkz article, which for some reason didn't appear in the quote in my last post), I did find the missing slat you were referring to. In fact, I saw two slats missing in the latter section of the video but there was a full slat in between them. The two missing slats were replaced with two spacer blocks. Immediately after the last spacer block I could see, 2 full slats appeared, meaning the spacer blocks were not placed consistently around the conveyor. Some portions of the conveyor had more slats than another rather than a consistent '1 full slat, 1 spacer block' pattern around the whole conveyor.

The first 15 seconds of the video, looking at the side of the conveyor closest to the camera, gave me the impression of all slats being on the conveyor.

[Thrill Seeker]

Is the old TRR site going to be the new wildlife experience?

[pushbutton]

I think there's plenty of Wildlife already. What's needed ate more new and much better quality rides and walk through attractions, and maybe a couple of good restaurants.

[MickeyD]

45 minutes ago, pushbutton said:

I think there's plenty of Wildlife already. What's needed ate more new and much better quality rides and walk through attractions, and maybe a couple of good restaurants.

@pushbutton Have you been raiding the Brandy cupboard again?

[Jdude95]

If anyone is interested, I also have way too many videos of the demo/earthworks going on too.

Also, the pile of dirt in front of Buzzsaw is the dirt being ferried in from WWW, it was about triple that size by the end of the day @Skeeta
Yes, the dirt is being piled on top of the old station turntable area (as I've had a few people asking)

 

Note: My reply didn't include every photo that was posted because I forums etiquette goodly

[New display name]

Media have forgotten this is still on today and it’s hard to get any information out, but Bob Tan is up today.  Bobby boy must be getting forgetful in his old age because he worked at DW for 28 years and he said he wasn't at DW when the planks were taken off.

 

"The former "oracle" of Dreamworld's engineering department didn't consider major modifications to the Thunder River Rapids ride a safety risk, an inquest into four deaths on the attraction has been told".

"The Gold Coast theme park's former general manager of engineering, Bob Tan, told coroner James McDougall modifications to remove slats from the conveyor belt had happened before he started working at the park - so he never saw a problem with the changes".

"However, Mr Tan, whose testimony has been hampered by his poor memory of events at the park, said although he worked at the park for 28 years, he never saw any evidence that safety analysis had been carried out before the slats were removed".

 

Edited November 22, 2018 by Skeeta

[AllegroCrab]

19 hours ago, pushbutton said:

I think there's plenty of Wildlife already. What's needed ate more new and much better quality rides and walk through attractions, and maybe a couple of good restaurants.

I agree but I really don't think I want the current Dreamworld to be building rides. The park's upper management and culture needs to be entirely changed and refreshed. Could this happen under Ardent? Probably not. Not sure if I'll ever visit the park until it happens.

[New display name]

Dreamworld's former engineering boss did not consider installing a backup water pump on a ride.

Bob Tan, former general manager of engineering at the Gold Coast tourist attraction, on Thursday told an inquest into the deaths Dreamworld chose not to fit a "fail safe" pump to the Thunder River Rapids.

Mr Tan had previously been made aware the now defunct Wonderland theme park in Sydney had fitted a similar pump to their version of the ride, but told coroner James McDougall that was because their ride was different.

"It was not possible given the physical layout of how (the) Dreamworld (ride) had been built," he said

Mr Tan, affectionately known among Dreamworld staff as the "oracle" because of the 28 years he'd worked at the park, also overlooked major modifications to the ride as posing a safety risk.

 

THE Dreamworld Inquest has adjourned until next month for two final days of evidence.

Edited November 22, 2018 by Skeeta

[Jdude95]

These final two days next month will be crucial. That will determine if the inquest gets pushed into next year or if any criminal/class action proceedings can start taking place next year.  Here's hoping they can finally wrap this thing up before the year is out.

[New display name]

Here's hoping Ardent are told they are not allowed to own a Theme Park.

[Richard]

Many years ago I asked the "oracle" of Dreamworld his thoughts on B&M coasters. Bob's reply was that they wouldn't build one because their capacity is too high for Dreamworld's needs. He pointed out that B&Ms have four across seating, but Dreamworld really only needs two across.

I guess what you can take from that is that his basic arithmetic skills and industry insight seems to be about as good as his memory...

[New display name]

15 minutes ago, Richard said:

Many years ago I asked the "oracle" of Dreamworld his thoughts on B&M coasters. Bob's reply was that they wouldn't build one because their capacity is too high for Dreamworld's needs. He pointed out that B&Ms have four across seating, but Dreamworld really only needs two across.

I guess what you can take from that is that his basic arithmetic skills and industry insight seems to be about as good as his memory...

My next question to the "oracle"

Have been have you thought about a Dive Coaster?

[Thrill Seeker]

Does skeeta work for the scripting department for 9 news? Sounds identical to what was on like 10 minutes ago.

[Levithian]

I think plant equipment registration is voluntary. You are supposed to submit paperwork every year to the government that basically says you are maintaining things to standard and they send you back a "registered" tag to place on your piece of equipment or to file somewhere I think.

Explains why things can get missed, but what should be answered for is if this paperwork stopped as the government inspectors attested to, why didn't they send someone in a year after it lapsed? or at the least, did anyone even call the park for a please explain? If paperwork was years out of date, it just makes no sense that the government department in charge of these registrations doesn't have checks in place to flag someone/something when they stop. It should have raised many eyebrows before it got to this stage, it's not like it was a corner store that could shut up shop overnight and vanish.