Parkz News Dreamworld pleads guilty over Thunder River Rapids accident

[TomiJ]

I didn't think this thread could get any weirder, thanks @joz & @Jdude95 for the laughs 😂. Personally I prefer gelato over ice-cream. 

@AlexB are you still confused 😕 😂😅

Edited August 11, 2020 by TomiJ

[Tim Dasco]

Everybody should chill out and have a great weekend! 
 

Now I feel like having ice cream...  😂

[Levithian]

On 08/08/2020 at 2:32 PM, rappa said:

IF they stay open generating those jobs and flow on. My point is they’ve demonstrated they couldn’t keep the place profitable before this so is flushing 70million more of public money at them really going to change that.

FWIW I think the place is of extreme value to the state and want to see it open and thriving. I just don’t see the present owners capable of that in any way. 

What?

Where did they generate liquid assets prior to covid then? Where do you think the money will go that it's flushing it down? It's not going to keep people employed? pay accounts and services? There's absolutely no return on the investment?

100 million dollar losses didn't come until after the accident and included the valuation losses to the business. How is it not profitable when prior to the accident they were generating about 33% margins and ebitda profit figures of 30-35 million on average per year for the 5 years prior? There's a reason why dreamworld returned valuations of around 220-230 million prior to the accident. It's because it operated within stable division generating steady profits, not because the park is worth 60 million dollars in land and completely mismanaged. 

Like the direction the park has been heading in or not, it matters very little when they were still seeing 2.4 million people through the gates each year. Don't get sentiment confused with actual operations. 

Edited August 11, 2020 by Levithian

[Richard]

10 hours ago, Levithian said:

How is it not profitable when prior to the accident they were generating about 33% margins and ebitda profit figures of 30-35 million on average per year for the 5 years prior? There's a reason why dreamworld returned valuations of around 220-230 million prior to the accident.

I don't think anyone's argued that Dreamworld is not a fundamentally viable business but those impressive figures are the product of Ardent's objectively unsustainable business model. EBITDA really isn't a great measure of anything given that this is a capital intensive industry and just how neglected Dreamworld was. Free cash flow for that five year period amounts to about $112 million. There's actually not a lot of liquidity had they been properly maintaining the park and planning for the graceful retirement of TRR, Log Ride, Wipeout and TOT and more.

Jury is still out on their recovery plan:  Australia lenders wouldn't give them the finance while USA lenders ring-fenced Main Event debt facilities. That's not a great start.

As for book value: they'd been actively trying to sell for years. Any number of would-be buyers would jump at a park delivering those margins but I suspect due diligence and an understanding of the immediate capital requirements killed discussions with the Wandas/Merlins/Villages of the world.

[Jdude95]

Buying a park for cheap is great until you realise you've gotta pump an extra $300m into it just to hopefully provide short-mid term results

[StingRay]

11 minutes ago, Jdude95 said:

Buying a park for cheap is great until you realise you've gotta pump an extra $300m into it just to hopefully provide short-mid term results

That's happened too many times before.

[Brad2912]

After pleading guilty, the sentencing/penalty will be handed down very shortly (court recommenced at 12:30pm).

Prosecutors have asked for a fine of between $3-4 million which DW have stated they have the immediate capacity to pay (as you'd expect).

https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts/dreamworld-thunder-river-rapids-disaster-12yearolds-haunting-words/news-story/afaee97d0915cf9940679cc890a07d1c

 

[Naazon]

28 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

After pleading guilty, the sentencing/penalty will be handed down very shortly (court recommenced at 12:30pm).

Prosecutors have asked for a fine of between $3-4 million which DW have stated they have the immediate capacity to pay (as you'd expect).

https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts/dreamworld-thunder-river-rapids-disaster-12yearolds-haunting-words/news-story/afaee97d0915cf9940679cc890a07d1c

 

They were fined $3.6million

 

https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/courts-law/ardent-leisure-facing-multimillion-dollar-fine-for-2016-dreamworld-tragedy-that-killed-four/news-story/47f80b48864df0676a85578127c38b41

 

Edit: I didn't post the News.com.au story because it was rubbish. They just updated a previously earlier written story with the figure.

Edited September 28, 2020 by Naazon

[Thrill Seeker]

Quote

Dreamworld fined $3.6 million over 2016 rapids ride tragedy

Dreamworld's parent company Ardent Leisure has been fined $3.6 million by a Queensland court over the deaths of four people on the theme park's Thunder River Rapids Ride in October 2016.

Southport magistrate Pamela Dowse sentenced the company on three charges laid by Queensland's Office of Industrial Relations at a hearing on Monday afternoon.

"The defendant operated the most iconic amusement park in the country," she said.

"Complete and blind trust was placed in the defendant by every guest that rode the Thunder River Rapids Ride and those guests were extremely vulnerable."

The court heard harrowing victim impact statements from families of victims of the 2016 Dreamworld tragedy during the sentencing hearing.

Ardent Leisure pleaded guilty on Monday to three charges, with potential fines of up to $4.5 million, laid after a coroner found "unjustifiable" failings in Dreamworld's safety management.

Sydney mother Cindy Low, along with Canberra mother Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi, were killed on October 25, 2016, when the theme park's Thunder River Rapids Ride malfunctioned.

Kim Dorsett, the mother of Luke and Kate, told the court of her shock when two police officers arrived at her hotel room on the Gold Coast to tell her the news "no mother should hear".

Ms Dorsett attended Southport Magistrates Court with her teenage granddaughter Ebony, who had been on the ride with her mother Kate, uncle Luke and his partner Mr Araghi.

"Ebony had survived the accident and was hysterical, trying to tell of the events that had taken place that afternoon," Ms Dorsett told the court.

" 'I couldn't find Mummy'. These words have become a recurring nightmare. Words that will be with me until I, too, take my last breath."

Ms Dorsett spoke of her loneliness in her terrible grief, the severe mental health consequences on herself and her family, and ongoing trauma. She described the loss of three children, "two I gave life to, and one who chose us".

"A broken heart has no words," she concluded her statement.

Prosecutor Aaron Guilfoyle read out other victim impact statements from Cindy Low's brother Michael Cook, her mother-in-law Dianne Bond, and aunt Helen Cook.

Mr Cook told the court he was "an empty shell of my former self" and his sister's death had derailed his life.

Ms Bond told of the deep loss felt by Ms Low's death and the devastating effects across her family, saying she was the "rock, lover, best friend, confidant" to her husband Mathew.

Ms Cook described Ms Low as a "vibrant, intelligent, and very special" person.

"That Cindy died violently is unacceptable to us. Knowing her death could have been avoided is unacceptable and infuriating," she said.

"Cindy was such a gentle, happy person. We know nothing will bring her back and all we have are precious, precious memories."

A lengthy inquest held over six weeks in 2018 heard a litany of failures and safety issues at the park, with coroner James McDougall handing down a 300-page report earlier this year.

Mr McDougall said there had been a "systemic failure" by the theme park in relation to "all aspects" of safety and there was no evidence the park ever conducted a proper risk assessment of the ride.

He referred Dreamworld back to the Office of Industrial Relations, which later laid the three charges against Dreamworld, each with a maximum potential fine of $1.5 million.

Ardent Leisure issued an unreserved apology to all the family and friends of the four victims, with the apology read out by its lawyer Bruce Hodgkinson QC in court on Monday morning.

Mr Hodgkinson told the court Ardent Leisure accepted full responsibility for the incident, and accepted the court would record a conviction.

Cindy Low's husband Mathew, and Kate and Luke's father Shayne, joined the hearing by videolink from interstate and overseas.

Mr Guilfoyle told the court what happened on the day of October 25, 2016, telling the court the incident occurred when one of two water pumps for the Thunder River Rapids Ride failed.

The raft in which the four victims were travelling collided with another empty raft on the ride's conveyor belt, inverting both rafts and almost immediately killing all four.

Cindy's son Kieran, 10 at the time, and Ms Goodchild's daughter Ebony, then 12, escaped without injury.

Mr Guilfoyle told the court an emergency stop button that would have stopped the conveyor within two seconds was not used; instead, a slow-stop button that took eight seconds was used to stop the ride.

He told the court there was confusion amongst Dreamworld ride operators, who had differing tiers of responsibility, about which stop button should or could be used under ride guidelines.

All four victims were killed almost immediately.

Mr Guilfoyle detailed a host of safety measures Dreamworld could have implemented at "minimal" cost such as reworking the ride's stop buttons and operation panel to reduce confusion and ensured ride operators had more and thorough training.

He noted many audit reports conducted for Dreamworld in the years before the incident had made recommendations to reduce the complexity of the ride's operation and ensure an emergency stop button was clearly labelled and operational.

Magistrate Dowse said Ardent Leisure's efforts to improve safety standards on the ride before the incident "were grossly below the standards that was rightly expected of it".

"A variety of control measures were available which would have eliminated the relevant risk. It was a company which had available to it resources to implement those control measures," she said.

She said the company knew of the risks of rafts overturning, after previous incidents in 2001 and 2013, and did not address it.

However, she noted Ardent Leisure accepted the statement of facts, did not dispute its role in the tragedy, and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

She also noted Dreamworld had significantly increased its safety at the park since the "dreadful and unspeakable incident".

Lucy Stone - BrisbaneTimes https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/dreamworld-fined-3-6-million-over-2016-rapids-ride-tragedy/ar-BB19tQ8u?ocid=spartan-ntp-feeds

 

[Whombex]

Once the fine is paid, and the memorial installed, I hope this sad period in DW's history can be moved on from.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, Whombex said:

Once the fine is paid, and the memorial installed, I hope this sad period in DW's history can be moved on from.

...Just four short years since 4 people were tragically killed on the Thunder River Rapids Ride at Dreamworld.

 

...it just writes itself!

[Coasterlife]

7 news just put this up on youtube a few hours ago, also I don't know if you all saw this video from channel 9 but they purposely tried to make another raft flip to attempt to simulate the 2016 tragedy

 

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by Coasterlife

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

7 hours ago, Coasterlife said:

they purposely tried to make another raft flip

This was mentioned in the weeks after the accident as the police attempted to recreate it. It was further mentioned at the Inquest.

As usual, the media continues to recycle the same package with a slightly updated script.

[Naazon]

1 hour ago, AlexB said:

This was mentioned in the weeks after the accident as the police attempted to recreate it. It was further mentioned at the Inquest.

As usual, the media continues to recycle the same package with a slightly updated script.

Correct me if I'm wrong Alex, but they tried around 100 times or something from memory.

[Brad2912]

12 minutes ago, Naazon said:

Correct me if I'm wrong Alex, but they tried around 100 times or something from memory.

I don’t know of the exact numbers, but they spent literal days trying to recreate the incident, and from my understanding were unable to such was the myriad of contributing successive factors that led to the incident. 

[StingRay]

They indeed tried for almost five days I believe. They caused a pump failure and all. But it wasn't enough to replicate that faithful day. It goes to show too many factors caused this incident. Without the proper safety measures (auto water sensors, cut-offs) it was always going to be hard to simulate.

[Jdude95]

Just throwing in that they tried literally everything they could think of. Water levels, pump pressure, conveyor faults, 1,2,3 and 4 rafts colliding together, different combinations of mechanical and e-stops, air pressure in the tubes even as far as actually trying to push the rafts to force them into the same position they were in 2016. It's pretty crazy to think that they couldn't get any rafts to flip or even go vertical with all of that testing. It also shows that the ride could operate perfectly fine under extreme circumstances but 1 single random factor can cause a complete disaster. That right there perfectly proves that it was literally just sheer dumb luck that no one had been injured or killed earlier. 

[Original]

You're right, it was sheer dumb luck considering, even though they weren't able to recreate after the accident, in the rides lifetime it had happened before. 
What is also sheer dumb luck is that no one was on the ride or injured when these other incidences occurred.

I can't believe the ride was never upgraded the first time this happened, or that the park felt it was rare to occur again, why bother doing anything about it, it would be sheer dumb luck to happen again, with passengers on board!  

[StingRay]

the problem is back when these first two incidents occurred peoples approaches to such things was rather "meh", They would have possibly tried to do it again in testing and it never occurred, Such like for QLD police. I know this is a bad thing to say but for a bit of long time luck played its part. 

Yes safety systems should have been upgraded and better training provided and heck better documentation should have been doe also. But that was never the case. The industry can and has learnt from this. It just takes time to prove it. Machines are machines. They need constant maintenance and upgrades to stay viable.

Just like the airline industry do so with aircraft.

[Original]

That's giving DW a pass right there. 

No, theme park industry safety was far above what DW provided. This isn't something the industry learnt from because it was already practicing it. You only have to look at the evidence VRTP gave in the inquest to see how far DW were behind the 8 ball. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Accidents happen in theme parks. But they're usually accidents. If you put aside the 'rider was an idiot' incidents like standing up in a log flume, or jumping a fence into a ride envelope to retrieve a hat, the vast majority of incidents, and especially deaths has come from inadequate maintenance and safety protocols.

Disney has killed people - the big thunder incident was attributed to disney downsizing its inhouse maintenance team and outsourcing the work to external contractors who didn't do as good of a job.

Dreamworld's incident is by and large due to their arrogance. They had a head of engineering who wasn't a qualified australian engineer, and they relied on him to guide what was necessary. When incidents occurred (such as the constant failures of the conveyor) they took his advice to remove slats from the conveyor to lighten it. Never mind that every rapids ride in the world that used a slat based conveyor had closely spaced slats. Dreamworld treated the symptom. Conveyor failed? lighten it's weight - without risk-assessing what the possible impacts of that were - the gaps in the conveyor were now wide enough to accommodate a raft tube. The proper fix would have been to replace the conveyor motor with something more powerful to overcome the weight issue.

Just like the station rails, that were introduced to prevent rafts dipping while loading, without considering what impact that might have to a stacked station.

But they had many opportunities to fix the issues. Several flips occurred in the ride's lifetime. But each was put down to an operator not following the manual, and when they identified issues, they simply instructed the ride operators to do more themselves to prevent it, rather than introducing controls.

Right before the accident they were in the process of upgrading systems, but they chose to install anti-rollbacks on the conveyor instead of a sensor system to stop the conveyor when the station was occupied. I really struggle to understand how they saw a conveyor rollback as a bigger issue TBH - even if there was a raft at the bottom of the conveyor, and a raft on the conveyor slid back down and bumped it - would that have been more than a bumper-boat scenario? they installed rails at the bottom of the conveyor to prevent rafts bottoming out - so at worse, you've got a shunt situation? The only thing I can think of is that they felt the bottom of the conveyor was more of a risk because it was outside of the operator's line of sight, whereas issues in the station could be seen by the operator - again, placing another burden on an already overworked and stressed operator.

So many single things could have been done which would have prevented this. Just one of these things would have changed the outcome -

• installing a proper, power disconnect e-stop.
• not installing rails in the station, instead using rams to pinch the raft against the station (similar to Snowy River).
• leaving the slats on the conveyor, and instead beefing up the motor that drove it.
• installing sensors to detect the presence of rafts on the conveyor and in the station to control-stop the conveyor when the station was occupied.
• Replacing the pumps that kept failing, and not operating the ride until it was fixed.

Everyone, park management included, saw this ride as tame, gentle, and unable to hurt anyone. It was arrogance, especially on behalf of one particular department head, that caused this.

[Original]

^ I'd even add to this, with the ride using an extra ride op to ease the burden on the operators. 

One loading only, one unloading only and one sitting in the control booth at all times and all they do is watch the load and unload areas and watching all the CCTV's, and since this is a continuously operating ride like how MW have permanent control booth ops on WWF, Scooby, Superman, Green Lantern, Arkham, Justice League and even old rides Looney Tunes and Batman. 

Hell even in their busy Summer periods have a 4th operator acting as the grouper, again same as what Scooby and WWF has in their busy periods. Or if you're so worried about your conveyor put someone on that as well, like WWF has someone on their turntable.