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"Danger of Death"

Rob

Rob

TS Team
Favourite Ride
Steel Vengeance
So, today at Towers there was one very noticeable change. The following signs have popped up all over the place on fences that surround ride areas:

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Quite dramatic I'm sure you would agree! I get the impression that there are more to come but there must have been at least 100 of them around the park today. You can see more in this TowersStreet Facebook gallery.

In many cases there are signs placed ever 3 to 5 meters along a fence. Now we all know ride areas are dangerous places and of course if you were to enter one and were hit by a moving ride then you very well could die. But what on earth is wrong with the long standing "danger, ride area, do not enter" style signs that have been themed and common place for years?

Surely guests do not want to see the word 'death' so often in what is meant to be a safe theme park environment offering escapism? They seem totally over the top and I feel that they will create more problems than they solve. It makes the park look a far more dangerous place that it is. Not only that but they are in the style of signs you find upon entering a construction site.

Of course Towers are somewhat more H&S concious following the incident on The Smiler but there is reacting and there is over reacting. This is the latter for me. Can you imagine walking around Big Thunder Mountain at Disney and being told every few meters that there is a danger of death?

Or am I over reacting and is this required in today's age?

:)
 
Rob said:
Surely guests do not want to see the word 'death' so often in what is meant to be a safe theme park environment offering escapism?
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Couldn't agree more. These are the sorts of signs you expect to see in an industrial environment such as a building site or factory, not a supposedly "magical" theme park. I've seen the pictures on Facebook of 3 consecutive signs on the Nemesis bridge. Not necessary!
 
Really, they obviously don't like the tabloids saying the park is a death trap, yet they are promoting that image. Is this part of the new ride safety protocols, most likely, yes. Is it necessary to say you will die if you cross the fence, rather than its unsafe to, no.

But then again, the gp probably don't understand why it is dangerous, after all, their cars can go faster than nemesis, which means that it is slow.
 
It's such an over reaction. I don't think even the mirror would blame towers if someone was stupid enough to jump a fence and get hurt or killed. It kills the atmosphere and even if they want to add more signs highlighting this then surely they could use the traditional themed sign and it would still put the message across but keeps the illusion of the theme alive.
 
Health and Safety charm offensive , they will be putting warning signs on the hot taps next., toilet seats, beware of crushed fingers.

Im surprised they haven't got electronic gates on the monorail waiting area, that will be next.

They are just covering themselves if some numpty wants to stand in front of a coaster, some solicitor will say, you had no signs warning of danger?
 
Last time I checked the recent incident didn't happen because someone was in a restricted area. Not sure why this is a thing?

So they edit Oblivions video because it mentions ride cars going missing and replace it with signs saying you may die. Great work there Alton...
 
These signs are pretty ugly, the word "Death" written all over them is slightly off putting too. But if that's what Merlin have to do to keep Health & Safety happy then so be it.
 
Have people on here really never seen similar signs in parks across the world?

Common as muck in a lot of parks where common sense is not part of the culture... Hence why German parks can use a single chainlink to block off guest access to the Rapids storage...

It's a warning sign, it warns of the potential dangers that people face should they enter ride areas... It's that simple... Times have changed since the days of either not having any warning sides or the basic ones, surprised that this wasn't done after that man wandered into Oblivion's tunnel a while back...
 
Tim said:
So they edit Oblivions video because it mentions ride cars going missing and replace it with signs saying you may die. Great work there Alton...
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Funnily enough X-Sector is one of the areas of the park without these signs as present! Although I'm sure they'll be rolled out there soon enough.
Benzin said:
Have people on here really never seen similar signs in parks across the world?

Common as muck in a lot of parks where common sense is not part of the culture... Hence why German parks can use a single chainlink to block off guest access to the Rapids storage...

It's a warning sign, it warns of the potential dangers that people face should they enter ride areas... It's that simple... Times have changed since the days of either not having any warning sides or the basic ones, surprised that this wasn't done after that man wandered into Oblivion's tunnel a while back...
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The odd sign here and there yes. But I have never seen signs like that in the standard H&S style plasters all over the place. There must have been around 10 of them just in the small area leading up to Air's entrance.

They really stand out. The word death is rather prominent. It does not make the theme park look safe. A lot of daily activities involve a danger of death. Whenever I walk through Leicester there is a danger of death if I stupidly walk out into the road, and heck there's not even a big fence to stop me from doing that! There are no signs warning me of it though.

Towers are just extremely paranoid at present as any major incident in the next year or so would be a killer for them. Unfortunately I fear these signs will be counter productive and come back to haunt them.

:)
 
It reminds me recently of loads of hotels placing yellow "Hot tap is hot" labels in every bathroom. I like to think Alton Towers don't really want to have blue and yellow death signs all over their park, they are only doing it to comply with the HSE.
 
Stuntman707 said:
I like to think Alton Towers don't really want to have blue and yellow death signs all over their park, they are only doing it to comply with the HSE.
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It is not to comply with anything from the HSE. This is more likely to be an internal H&S issue.

:)
 
Rob said:
It is not to comply with anything from the HSE. This is more likely to be an internal H&S issue.

:)
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From my (limited) observations of the HSE, it seems like they would be more interested in physically preventing entry with something like more secure fencing than warning people of the danger.

If this was a demand from the HSE then I would imagine something a bit more substantial than signs.
 
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