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Drayton Manor Park - Splash Canyon Incident

One of the biggest problems in air crashes is that survivors can't undo their seatbelts to get out in time. People are used to car seatbelts, so anything slightly different confuses them in the heat of the moment.
 
Benjsh said:
Has there ever been one that flipped upside down?
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I'm sure there has been.

Alton has those doors fitted which seems to be adequate. At the end of the day, whether they install doors or seat belts, if someone is determined enough to stand up and put there hands into the water, nothing will stop them from doing so.

I feel that we live in a world where we rely too much on safety, which means that people no longer have a sense of personal safety.

Take cars for instance. The more that safety features are fitted to a car, the more accidents happen as people have a false sense of security/safety and just rely too much on the safety features to worry about the consequences of an accident.

The only benefits from a seat belt on the rapids, will be for those with mobility issues.

I personally wouldn't like to see seat belts fitted to the rapids, but if they do, perhaps they could fit them to certain boats for certain age groups to use just like they did when they fitted out a few of the log flume boats for shorter kids.

But how far do you go with safety on the rapids, will there be a point that we all would be made to wear a life jacket to ride?

Still more dangerous to travel to a themepark than it is to ride the rides. UK themepark deaths are a minuscule drop in the ocean compared to the amount of people that die on our roads every day.
 
Just heard the reporter on the local news state that although splash canyon remains closed, the park will not reopen it until they get the permission from the girls family.
 
Benjsh said:
Has there ever been one that flipped upside down?

I know the one in Australlia did but wasn't that one out of the water at the time and on the lift hill?
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Roaring Rapids at Six Flags Over Texas flipped in 1999 - see below, maybe the one at Six Flags America too around the same time. Not sure, time flies.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - A boat on an amusement park ride overturned Sunday in waist-deep water, killing a woman and injuring 10 others.

The accident occurred about 5:30 p.m. on the Roaring Rapids ride at Six Flags over Texas, Arlington police spokesman Dee Anderson said.

Twelve people were in the large, round boat when it capsized about 200 feet from the end of the ride.

Most apparently were able to quickly unbuckle their seat belts and escape the overturned boat.

But Valeria Cartwright, 28, part of a large group visiting the park from West Helena, Ark, apparently drowned, Anderson said.

Ten others suffered mostly minor injuries, but four people were hospitalized overnight.

One person was unharmed.

Six Flags spokeswoman Nancy St. Pierre said it was the first death of a customer in 38 years.

https://oklahoman.com/article/2646906/1-dies-at-six-flags-as-boat-overturns
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I got nothing against theme parks hiring young workers on minimum wage but they should start at the bottom and work there up to ride ops. Like been a season pass holder I see a lot of the staff all the time and many ain’t paying attention to the ride all the time, talking between each other.
Theses are teenagers looking after teenagers and they panic if something happens they not sure about.
If it’s the same cctv that’s been In there for years then they really small screens.
 
Dave said:
indemnity insurance would if the policy covered it. Obviously we have no idea what types of insurance the park have.
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There are several different types of insurance that would indemnify negligence - whether that be in the form of bad advice which results in a negative outcome, or injury to the public in a civil case - but generally speaking HSE fines and criminal activities cannot be covered.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
From here:

Depending on the nature of the investigation or prosecution, cover may be available under directors’ and officers’ liability, professional indemnity or trustee liability insurance.

...

Such cover will typically provide indemnity for the costs incurred in defending or challenging claims or findings made against the company or its officers, but will usually not cover fines or penalties which might be imposed as a result of a prosecution or regulatory proceedings. Criminal fines and penalties can never be indemnified by an insurance policy and civil fines and penalties are often expressly excluded by the policy terms, or cover prohibited by the relevant regulator.
 
Been doing some research on deaths and accidents at small UK theme parks.
M&D theme park was fined £65000 this year when part of there Tsunami coaster came off the track there turnover that year was 8 million.
Oakwood when Hayley Williams fell to her death in 2004 from the Hydro ride after her lap bar wasn’t fully closed. Not sure how much Oakwood turned over that year but they were fined £250000 and had to pay £80000
Drayton Manor turned over 22.9 million last year so if Merlin were fined 5 million for the Smiler in 2016 When the group made 240 million then Drayton got to be fined between £500000 and £1000000.
 
I recommend reading the sentencing guidelines rather than guessing from various other prosecutions. You can find them here:
Organisations: Breach of duty of employer towards employees and non-employees/ Breach of duty of self-employed to others/ Breach of Health and Safety regulations

For a turnover of £22m you're looking in the range from £3k upto £4m depending on culpability and likelihood of harm.

Edit to add
Just realised this is a coroner's inquest, not a prosecution, so there won't be any penalties.
 
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I think eleven is a bit young to be going on rides like rapids where the urge to stand up and dodge splashes is difficult to resist even as an adult. I don't see how this tragedy is much different than a kid the same age being hit by a car and killed because they didn't look before crossing. Heavy machinery is dangerous whether it is on the road or at a theme park. It is not about blaming anybody but you need to have that healthy fear of inherently dangerous things. Maybe more signs that explicitly state 'Danger of death' like on substations would be enough rather than rules which appear more like suggestions and the threat of expulsion from the park. Yeah, it is a bit of a suspensionoof disbelief breaker but you could still adapt them to a theme park environment whilst keeping the message clear.
 
The height for the rapids were minimum height of 0.9m to ride with a adult and 1.1m to ride alone and it’s the same at Alton Towers on there Congo River Rapids. Now my daughter was 5/6 years old when she hit this height. On Stormforce 10 they state you got to be 1.2m to ride but you can’t ride alone to your 14 years old and the other guest got to be 16+.
 
Alsty said:
Just realised this is a coroner's inquest, not a prosecution, so there won't be any penalties.
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This is something that I mentioned along the lines in an earlier post.

I'm under the impression that the park has held back it's investment spending in anticipation of a fine, this don't mean that a fine will be definite. They are just preparing for the worst. If they are not being prosecuted, then surely there won't be any need to fine them? Unless the H&S will be fining them independently of any criminal charges for other breaches that they have found during their investigation?
 
Even if there's no criminal proceedings, there could still be a claim in the civil courts.
 
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