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Drayton Manor Park - Splash Canyon Incident

RoyJess said:
And finally to have no water rescue aids to hand is certainly non excusable, even our local pond has a life buoy to hand. Not just for the safety of the guest, but also just in-case one of the workers ever falls in.
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This for me is the key issue. There should have been some kind of floatation device or buoy (with a rope) nearby. She shouldn't have been standing and there should have been ride Op announcements to ask her to sit down, but then to have no means to try to rescue if there is an incident is a problem.
 
They have had a ride operator who worked on the ride in the 90s state that there used to be 4 staff members on the ride, when it was reduced to two is not clear.
 
Ride staff member not trained in water rescue
The coroner asks him if he believes the ride and CCTV could be monitored with the reduced staff.

He says it would be ‘manageable’, but if the ride was busy he would not be able to fully monitor the CCTV.

The coroner asks him:

Were you at any time trained in water rescue?”

He says: “No.”

“Was there any water rescue equipment?”, the coroner asks.

Again, he replies: “No
 
Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Even now that some parks have staff stationed around their rapids rides.... Are any of them trained in water rescue? It's a very specific and dangerous job. I can't see any park paying for fully trained life guards to stand around all day.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Even now that some parks have staff stationed around their rapids rides.... Are any of them trained in water rescue? It's a very specific and dangerous job. I can't see any park paying for fully trained life guards to stand around all day.
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Didn’t the ones at Thorpe used to wear those automatic inflate lifebelts? At least they did when they first started supervising. But I’d assume that’s more for if they accidentally fell in where there’s no fencing.

As you say water rescue is very specialised

Water rescue always reminds me of that poor man who drowned because 999 crews were ordered not to save him.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...rowning-man-3ft-deep-lake-half-boot-deep.html
 
ringo said:
Didn’t the ones at Thorpe used to wear those automatic inflate lifebelts? At least they did when they first started supervising. But I’d assume that’s more for if they accidentally fell in where there’s no fencing.

As you say water rescue is very specialised

Water rescue always reminds me of that poor man who drowned because 999 crews were ordered not to save him.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...rowning-man-3ft-deep-lake-half-boot-deep.html
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Congo lifeguards at Towers wear life jackets
 
Maybe it's not reasonable to train all the staff to have lifeguard qualifications and water rescue techniques*, but providing lifebouys and poles around the ride, supplying staff with lifejackets and giving basic training on how to use the equipment is surely a minimum for everyone. It would also show awareness of the risks and measures are being applied to control them.

* although I do think at least one person on duty should have such qualifications
 
Alsty said:
Maybe it's not reasonable to train all the staff to have lifeguard qualifications and water rescue techniques*, but providing lifebouys and poles around the ride, supplying staff with lifejackets and giving basic training on how to use the equipment is surely a minimum for everyone. It would also show awareness of the risks and measures are being applied to control them.

* although I do think at least one person on duty should have such qualifications
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I would think it’s reasonable to train staff working on a water ride in water rescue (fairly sure Towers do). If the council run swimming pool can do it a multi-million pound organisation can also.
 
Hmmm... Given that Intamin rapids are a 30+ year old design, could it be that this guidance dates from the days when installing comprehensive CCTV coverage would have cost as much as the ride itself?

In this day and age, we may well have discovered the only spot in the entire UK that is NOT watched by CCTV!
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Hmmm... Given that Intamin rapids are a 30+ year old design, could it be that this guidance dates from the days when installing comprehensive CCTV coverage would have cost as much as the ride itself?

In this day and age, we may well have discovered the only spot in the entire UK that is NOT watched by CCTV!
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I would say this is exactly the case. CCTV has got hundreds of pounds less expensive per camera since and would imagine 30 years ago was not seen as cost effective to implement in a large scale

Re the ESTOP
Pushing emergency stop 'would have been wrong thing to do'
Mr Lomas said pushing the emergency stop would have been the wrong thing to do after Evha fell out of the boat.

He said the water where Evha can been seen paddling on the CCTV footage was about 70cm to 80cm, but would have risen by about half a metre if the water had been switched off.

Mr Lomas said: “If the emergency stop is depressed before we know where a guest is, that stops everything including the pumps and the water freely flows down.

“A back wave washes back up the traction and the height of the water will increase probably at least half a metre above where it was where Evha was standing.

“She would have been put at risk.”

He said the action would also lead to several boats collecting at the bottom of the ramp, near where Evha was.

The inquest has been adjourned for a break.
 
CCTV system called into question
Mr Curtis asked Mr Lomas if the CCTV cameras were failing to help safety.

Mr Curtis said:

Do you accept, based on that the operator didn’t see any incidents of standing up or moving about in the boat, that the control measure for the operator to control people’s behaviour in the boat doesn’t work?”

Mr Lomas said: “No, I don’t.”

Mr Curtis asked if it caused Mr Lomas any concern that the operator had failed to spot Evha misbehaving in the boat.

Mr Lomas replied: “Yes.”
 
With CCTV, if you did cover every inch of the ride, that comes with its own challenges. If you have 1500ft of channel, each camera would cover maybe 30ft effectively, 50ft at best - you then end up with 30 - 50 monitors and have to track boats (and people) moving between them.

That's why the 'hot spot' approach is typically more sensible.
 
Were the signs on the ride good enough?
The next witness to be sworn in is Jonathan Boham, another Health and Safety Executive officer, who said the signage was “broadly adequate” but that there were “deficiencies”.

He said: “There were some deficiencies in relation to signage, which did not detail the consequences of not following the instructions.

“It’s acknowledged that amusement parks have to strike a balance between providing a ride that’s fun and suggesting a ride is dangerous.”

He said that he also visited Alton Towers where the similar ride had a sign stating “danger of death” which were not present at Drayton Manor Park. However, he said the signs at Alton Towers could have been put up in response to Evha’s death.
 
Rick said:
With CCTV, if you did cover every inch of the ride, that comes with its own challenges. If you have 1500ft of channel, each camera would cover maybe 30ft effectively, 50ft at best - you then end up with 30 - 50 monitors and have to track boats (and people) moving between them.

That's why the 'hot spot' approach is typically more sensible.
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As someone who's spent the last 18 years working in TV, being able to watch multiple monitors at the same time, whilst controling equipment, and holding a conversation is possible.... But it's a skill that takes years to develop.
And I don't think I've ever had to properly watch more than 20 screens at once. Even then, it's more a case of "only give any one screen your full attention when you see movement in your peripheral vision".

To give the number of screens required to cover the ride your FULL attention would be a full time job in itself. And would require regular breaks.
 
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