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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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Since when did a manual over ride 'raise questions about the safety of this ride and others' had the accident not happened then that override would have been needed after removing the stalled train!!!! :mad::banghead:
 
All things considered I don't think that the article is that bad! Seams pretty accurate.
 
'Our revelations – particularly the fact that staff are able to perform manual overrides at all – will raise disturbing questions about the safety features on the Smiler and other rides.'

1. If manual overrides weren't able to be performed 'at all' then how would one ever reset the system?
2. You can never cut out the risk of human error in anything.

Not sure why I read this article as I knew what to expect. The headline alone is disgusting.
 
If this is true then I can't really understand why the people who allowed this accident are still working at AT, investigation pending or no. Surely they would have suspended them.

I hope the "different roles" they've been given only involve enough responsibility as mopping the toilet floors..
 
AliceHL91 said:
If this is true then I can't really understand why the people who allowed this accident are still working at AT, investigation pending or no. Surely they would have suspended them.

I hope the "different roles" they've been given only involve enough responsibility as mopping the toilet floors..
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If I was in the booth and the engineer who's taken over the malfunction told me to press 'button X' I wouldn't even question it. I'd be going straight to HR if I was punished for it.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
I think the real question is not "who's to blame", but rather, "how the hell did they not know the train had stalled?"
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Exactly, they most probably did know. Given that the block had kicked in and stopped the ride for 10 minutes, in that time they must have known it had stalled. My money's still on "tried to reverse the train back down the lift for evac, but didn't quite put it in reverse"

Edit: Btw what's the green corner in the avatars mean?
 
That's possible, but do they reverse the first lift, or just use the stairs like a normal coaster?

(Psst, it means the member is online) ;)
 
It's still all just speculation, basically someone with a bit of knowledge maybe a employee who has recently left or something has gone to the daily shame and sold them what they could have priced together from looking on here. Hopefully they don't find this site or there will be a 8 page alton towers disaster spectacular. Gutter press I hate them!
 
DiogoJ42 said:
That's possible, but do they reverse the first lift, or just use the stairs like a normal coaster?

(Psst, it means the member is online) ;)
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I believe the procedure is to reverse the train down the lift, that way it's a much safer evac than one at height and on an incline. It's the only ride in the world, that I'm aware of, where that is a possibility. That being said, it would seem a major flaw in the blocking logic if it allowed the vehicle to be advanced into the next block by accident, or that it requires putting into a fully manual mode to carry out a lift hill evac.
 
If it is human error then I would also spare a thought for the person/s who has (most likely) been feeling incredibly guilty and will live with it for the rest of their lives too. Yes they weren't involved in the accident and haven't suffered injuries or anything but they would need support too as it could have been a genuine error. Yes it also could have been negligence or misconduct, but this can be a result of the procedures/training the company itself has in place.
 
And what's possibly worse than just living with the guilt is all the tabloids. I'm sure they will hold them at blame and publish loads of articles showing how evil they are, and how they made it crash on purpose so they could get the day off.
 
If someone is found to be "at fault" I'm sure Towers won't disclose anyone's names.

Also regardless of anything, no matter if someone wanted to send the train around the fact of the matter is, it shouldn't have been possible.
 
While Human Error may scream "its all your fault" at one or a few individuals, there are many complex reasons as to the why and how any so called human error occurred.
Anything from on the job pressures, sickness policy of the company / lack of sick pay ( pressure to report for work even if not 100% fit ), inadequate training, errors in the training system,the design of the control systems, operational procedures and so on.
For another human error situation look at the Kegworth air disaster, where the pilots shut down the wrong engine.

Everyone is looking for a person to blame, and Human error can sometimes give the impression of an individual making a mistake but the reality is often far more opaque and complex.
As well as the customers who were injured, hopefuly Merlin will/are giving the staff involved all the support they need, as well.
 
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