Dreamworld in more strife with Queensland’s safety regulator after dangerous near-misses

[Brad2912]

Embattled Gold Coast theme park Dreamworld is again in strife with Queensland’s safety regulator after two more dangerous near-misses were reported.

Dreamworld is again in strife with Queensland’s safety regulator after two more dangerous near-misses at the Gold Coast theme park.

Just weeks after a young girl suffered horrific internal injuries on a waterslide, a patron narrowly escaped serious injury after another slide mishap.

And workers had a lucky escape when the three-tonne arms of the ‘swinging rickshaw ride’, Pandemonium, fell during maintenance.

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has launched an investigation into both incidents which come after the 8-year-old Logan girl was rushed to hospital with shocking internal injuries last month after riding the Fully 6 waterslide at Dreamworld’s sister park, WhiteWater World.

The regulator hit Dreamworld’s publicly-listed owner Ardent Leisure with safety improvement notices over that incident but sources say the company is appealing.

Dreamworld has defended the slide’s safety but the girl’s furious family has launched legal action, calling in the same lawyers who handled successful compensation claims over the 2016 Thunder River Rapids ride disaster which killed four tourists.

Sources say Ardent was issued with three safety notices over the incident on the Pandemonium ride which is one of three major Dreamworld thrill rides that has been closed for extended maintenance.

A worker is believed to have narrowly escaped being crushed when the ride’s arms fell, about a week after the Fully 6 incident.

WHSQ was also alerted over an incident on the Triple Vortex slide last weekend.

“Workplace Health and Safety Queensland confirms that Ardent Leisure has recently notified it of a near miss incident during maintenance on the Pandemonium ride and another minor incident last Saturday where a patron was cleared of any serious injury after riding the Triple Vortex tube slide,” a spokesman said.

“To ensure patron and worker safety, WHSQ has taken action and continues to investigate these matters”.

A Dreamworld spokeswoman said the park had self-reported the Pandemonium incident, which occurred during scheduled maintenance, to WHSQ.

“We … are working cooperatively with them and have received confirmation that they are satisfied with our actions,” she said.

“We acknowledge a minor event that took place on the Triple Vortex slide at WhiteWater World and we confirm that a notice was not issued by WHSQ. WHSQ have advised they are satisfied with our actions in relation to this matter.”

The spokeswoman said the park had acquired the Fully 6 waterslide from a top global manufacturer and it operated strictly in accordance with the maker’s requirements.

“WhiteWater World has requested a review of this notice with WHSQ and the notice is currently stayed,” she said.

The theme park said it had made sweeping safety improvements after a damning inquest into the Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy exposed major flaws with ride procedures and maintenance and staff training.

In September, Ardent was fined a record $3.6 million after pleading guilty to breaking workplace health and safety laws.

https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/queensland/dreamworld-in-more-strife-with-queenslands-safety-regulator-after-dangerous-nearmisses/news-story/c1c28c004705b08b2f68eebc3d138f23

[Jdude95]

Theme park follows regulation and reports an injury and near miss.
WHSQ are happy with this because protocol was followed and there were no serious or major injuries.

GCB: Murder park, strikes again!

[themagician]

Seems like the media are back on the theme park watch and anything minor or slightly unusual will be reported on 😒

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Putting aside the incident on triple vortex which sounds like a nothing event, A near-miss crush is hardly 'minor or slightly unusual'. Any action involving moving a large piece of machinery in such a way that it could potentially fall and injure someone requires risk management - with the best and safest course of action being eliminating the crush risk by ensuring that no person is within the fall zone during the lift. Even if it occurred at a time when a worker HAS to be in the fall zone (for example, while bolting \ unbolting the ride arm) there are ways and means of securing things to ensure they are in a fail-safe position. WHSQ will obviously determine whether it was procedure that was lacking, or whether it was an individual worker not following procedure. But either way, that isn't minor.

[Richard]

Three safety notices over an incident is objectively not “WHSQ are happy”. 

[Levithian]

"Confirmation, satisfied with their actions". 

What more do you want them to do if the regulator is happy with what they have done/are doing? 

The onus is always on the site manager for responding to the incident and managing the risk internally. You still get issued with notices even if youve already complied with their directives from worksafe prior to the incident being investigated. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Levithian

[Richard]

After the fact, absolutely. Sounds like the necessary boxes are being ticked.

But the suggestion was that WHSQ were happy simply by virtue of being informed of the incident and because luckily no one was injured. This is objectively not true given a presumably preventable incident occurred that resulted in notices.

[Greg]

Disgusting Gold Coast Bulletin reporting. ANY workplace incident/near miss be it small or large MUST be reported. The choice of wording they are using is disgusting. No wonder people don’t like or trust the media. Shame on you Gold Coast Bulletin. This is why I don’t buy your crappy shit paper and the Courier Mail. Get your facts right.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

ok, but what do you really think of the media?

[Coasterlife]

kid falls over at dreamworld

The News: 9 yr old kid has been injured following a fatal incident at dreamworld, This comes as 4 years ago 4 people died on the thunder rapids ride, More to come at 6. 

seriously something like that would happen and they would talk about it

[Rachelkinks]

@Greg are you greg yong?

[Greg]

@Rachelkinks-Nope, just a theme park enthusiast just like you, and a realist. 

[GoGoBoy]

Question: Isn't Super 6 super slow and weak? Hardly a thrill slide complex. Assuming this is a freak accident rather than a design or operational flaw?

Edited December 10, 2020 by GoGoBoy

[Brad2912]

3 minutes ago, GoGoBoy said:

Question: Isn't Super 6 super slow and weak? Hardly a thrill slide complex. Assuming this is a freak accident rather than a design or operational flaw?

the 2 speed slides are obviously "fast", but the other 4 are no faster, in fact probably slower, than River Rapids at Wet n Wild.

[Jdude95]

7 hours ago, Richard said:

After the fact, absolutely. Sounds like the necessary boxes are being ticked.

But the suggestion was that WHSQ were happy simply by virtue of being informed of the incident and because luckily no one was injured. This is objectively not true given a presumably preventable incident occurred that resulted in notices.

I'm not saying they are happy happy happy and are throwing a party for DW doin' the right thing. 

I'm saying they are happy with the actions taken by DW and the outcome so far, along with the fact that there wasn't a major injury. 

Yeah, DW could still cop a fine if there was something dodgy happening at Pandamonium but it's not like WHSQ showed up with subpoenas and a big lock ready to close the place down. 

[Pyro]

Any near miss incident should be reported, if the Murdoch news fiction paper reported every near miss that is reported with Qantas, no one would ever fly. Its a media beef up. Click bait about dreamworld sells unfortunately and Facebook doesn't help. 100's of near misses are reported across Queensland every week, Im glad that they are taking it seriously and reporting.

 

[gavinfulikes]

Now Dreamworld is under fire after a former Paralympian was kicked off the Dronkey Flyers ride.

[Archer]

I love it how the usual DW cheer squad on this forum  puts a spin on every stuff up.

Would make good politicians. 🤣

[Rachelkinks]

Time to put a bulldozer straight through dreamworld...build a disneyland 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Rachelkinks

[Archer]

[Brad2912]

4 hours ago, gavinfulikes said:

Now Dreamworld is under fire after a former Paralympian was kicked off the Dronkey Flyers ride.

You mean an entitled Karen with an ego and a chip on her shoulder that believes a ride op doesn’t have the right to question her ability to walk or go up and down steps unassisted? 

Ride Op did the right thing. This lady with her “don’t you know who I am” attitude needs a reality check. 
 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Brad2912

[Jdude95]

3 hours ago, Archer said:

I love it how the usual DW cheer squad on this forum  puts a spin on every stuff up.

Would make good politicians. 🤣

Puts a spin? 

You mean like the media spinning that the park is just murdering people hand over fist and if you go there, you're guaranteed to get hurt.

Sorry for wanting to provide some truth in amongst the fuckasses and speculation   

Also to add to that, media are reporting that 3+ rides at DW have been closed due to safety issues since the Fully 6 incident. 
Rides such as, Buzzsaw, Pandamonium, 2 of the 6 Fully 6 slides and the soon to be Gold Coaster.... 

That level of spin would make Shane Warne proud. 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Jdude95
Spelling

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

Dreamworld should consider taking legal action towards the media who are misleading people in certain scenarios to think there is incidents happening all the time. Someone with a disability not being able to go on a kids ride is not an incident.

[Brad2912]

23 minutes ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

Dreamworld should consider taking legal action towards the media who are misleading people in certain scenarios to think there is incidents happening all the time. Someone with a disability not being able to go on a kids ride is not an incident.

you think poking the bear would encourage it to be quiet?? 

[Brad2912]

Another day, another news limited article about DW.

maintenance worker suing for over $300k due to being first on scene at the TRR tragedy, and another $300k after crashing a golf buggy last year whilst working there.

don’t blame him for suing given what he witnessed, but if sights and sounds and large crowds etc now cause anxiety, i wouldn’t still be choosing to work at the place where that incident occurred. Suing your current employer for over $600k probably won’t do your future job satisfaction any favours. 

https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/queensland/dreamworld-worker-sues-over-trauma-of-thunder-river-rapids-tragedy/news-story/ca4cc931005b3740cf47692702d4671a