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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015
- Thread starter spinba11
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BigT
TS Member
The thing I find surprising is most people's understanding of a safety system.
"How is it possible to override" is a common comment, but it actually isn't possible.(unless you are clever)
It's possible to reset a safety system not override and that's the whole point, it's all about procedures when that reset takes place and the training surrounding it.
If AT can prove the person involved has had the appropriate training then they are in the clear, it's down to the individual then at that point for not following what they have been trained for.
By the reaction (park closed for a week) and the change of procedures though I'm guessing that the correct paper trail was not in place, someone will of got fired for this but maybe not necessarily the individual involved.
"How is it possible to override" is a common comment, but it actually isn't possible.(unless you are clever)
It's possible to reset a safety system not override and that's the whole point, it's all about procedures when that reset takes place and the training surrounding it.
If AT can prove the person involved has had the appropriate training then they are in the clear, it's down to the individual then at that point for not following what they have been trained for.
By the reaction (park closed for a week) and the change of procedures though I'm guessing that the correct paper trail was not in place, someone will of got fired for this but maybe not necessarily the individual involved.
Altonadvocate1
TS Member
A final thought for those involved in the accident. Hope they receive the best of care and can move on with their lives.
Hope the lessons learned from The Smiler accident are shared across the park, the Merlin group and their competitors around the world to make rollercoasters which are are all ready statistically incredibly safe even safer.
Looking forward go riding The Smiler in 2016 and hoping towers can bounce back, create more jobs in the longer term and go on to greater heights.
Hope the lessons learned from The Smiler accident are shared across the park, the Merlin group and their competitors around the world to make rollercoasters which are are all ready statistically incredibly safe even safer.
Looking forward go riding The Smiler in 2016 and hoping towers can bounce back, create more jobs in the longer term and go on to greater heights.
PeteB
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
James
TS Founding Member
Wtf have I been riding all these years then ?!?!
Oh that thing that spins you around and squirts water? That's The HB Leisure: The Ride, duh!
micksalt
TS Member
'Human Error' is a bit of a weasle-wriggle. Human error, and indeed unofficial shortcuts to procedure is to be anticipated as part of a Human Reliability Assessment. It's an organic thing too, just because an HRA was valid when the ride was initially commissioned, doesn't mean it was valid at the time of the incident. If the ride had more failures than anticipated, the number of instances of human intervention increases, and thus the probability of an accident increases, possibly beyond the limits of acceptability.
Benzin
TS Member
...and "The Ripsaw"
And worse, "THE" Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...
It's surprising how many people don't seem to realise you can reset any machine when it's playing up... Do these people panic when their PC/laptop gets a blue screen and just bin it?
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
surely there would've been some sort of alarm, light or message on the control pannel, indicating that there was a problem? there should be, anyway.
Pepper_Plant
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Air
I think there was - the news reports said that the operators misunderstood a shutdown message. That suggests that the training wasn't adequate, if the operators misunderstood.
It sounds like the new measures will stop this happening again.
When this incident happened I was very shocked, as we know that two carriages being in the same block is something that should not be possible. It's good to know that the ride did perform as it should have. However I don't think the ride operators should take all the blame - Alton Towers shouldn't have made/opened a ride which could stall in the way that The Smiler can.
jon81uk
TS Member
There was, as in the article (https://towersstreet.com/news/2015/the-smiler-incident-why-it-happened/) , there was a manual override of the safety system. So the ride stopped the full car on the lift hill as it knew something was wrong as the empty train should have got to the second lift hill. But somebody did a manual override and sent the full car going again.
What I understand to have happened is this:
> ride keeps going tech all day, engineers going back and forth, people getting frustrated with it
> ride goes tech and goes down for a longer period. Engineer decides to put another car on the track but forgets to tell the ride op
> empty cart is sent around the track and stalls
> ride op still unaware, car full of guests is dispatched
> ride detects block not clear and stops the car on the lift hill
> ride goes "tech" again and engineer comes back
> members of the public tell the staff at the entrance of the stalled car. The staff telephone the ride op and say "do you know about the stuck car". Because of the frustration in the control room and the constant break downs, the ride op just says "yes" and ends the call, thinking they are referring to the car on the lift hill
> engineer is unaware that the 5th car is still out on the track and over rides the system sending the other car on its fateful journey.
> ride keeps going tech all day, engineers going back and forth, people getting frustrated with it
> ride goes tech and goes down for a longer period. Engineer decides to put another car on the track but forgets to tell the ride op
> empty cart is sent around the track and stalls
> ride op still unaware, car full of guests is dispatched
> ride detects block not clear and stops the car on the lift hill
> ride goes "tech" again and engineer comes back
> members of the public tell the staff at the entrance of the stalled car. The staff telephone the ride op and say "do you know about the stuck car". Because of the frustration in the control room and the constant break downs, the ride op just says "yes" and ends the call, thinking they are referring to the car on the lift hill
> engineer is unaware that the 5th car is still out on the track and over rides the system sending the other car on its fateful journey.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Yes, but at the end of the day it was human error. It was humans that did not notice a stalled train and humans that manually re-set the ride with guests on board so that it could be sent on it's way. And it was humans that did not follow procedures.
Alton Towers/Merlin as a company will get prosecuted for it and rightly so as it was their employees but at the end of the day human error (or maybe human incompetence is a better term) is the root cause.
Scott
Former TS Team Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Great to see confirmation of the cause (although I think we all worked it out) and confirmation that the ride will be reopening next season.
Hopefully popularity won't be knocked too badly as its not a mechanical fault and measures have been outlined to show how it simply cannot and will not happen again.
I can imagine that working the entrance of the ride next season will be a bit of a harrowing job to have. Hope they get full training and a detailed brief of what to say to the inevitable safety questions from members of the public.
Hopefully popularity won't be knocked too badly as its not a mechanical fault and measures have been outlined to show how it simply cannot and will not happen again.
I can imagine that working the entrance of the ride next season will be a bit of a harrowing job to have. Hope they get full training and a detailed brief of what to say to the inevitable safety questions from members of the public.
micksalt
TS Member
I'd be interested in what @MichelinMan has to say about all this. He's righted a few wrongs in my assumptions due to a greater depth of knowledge.
James
TS Founding Member
Tbh there should at least be managers present when the ride reopens, then staff given scripts and answers to be there the rest of the time.
Burbs
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Iron Gwazi
I'm fairly confident that management will be there when the ride reopens.
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