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Ride/Park Accidents

Another news article on the fine, from the ABC.

To put into context, $3.6 million is the largest workplace fine in Queensland’s history. The maximum fine could have been $4.5 million ($1.5m per breach).

The Queensland Government loaned Ardent Leisure $67m to reopen after Covid (which will have to be repaid), plus a $3 million grant.

Both parks are struggling at the moment due to Queensland’s closure of the nearby border with New South Wales, which means fewer tourists are visiting the Gold Coast and the local catchment to the parks is reduced.
 
Australia - woman critically injured falling from an A.R.M. Skymaster (ranger) called hangover.

One report states the injured somehow lost her top when she fell, it could have just snagged in something obviously, but I wonder if there's any way her clothing might have been caught in the restraint mechanism causing it to not properly close? Pure speculation.

Also of note, the rides restraints have had issues before, with cracking found in older OTS restraints and more recently defective bolts used in the restraint system.
 
I’m not sure statistically if that is entirely the case. However, the reporting on such incidents in more mainstream news outlets certainly feels to have increased in recent years, particularly following The Smiler.

If you’re basing such a claim on the amount of posts you’ll find in this thread I think it’s also fair to say that we probably have more reports on UK incidents simply because we see them more often in our local news. I’m sure if you went onto a forum for a park in another country who had a similar thread to this you might see more local coverage that we maybe don’t hear about over here.

Equally, while I don’t have any hard stats to back up it up, I would think it’s fair to assume that per capita the UK has quite a high volume of rides and parks when compared to other countries, especially when you consider for example that some US states only have a handful of small trolly parks. Think how many seaside attractions like fairs and piers that we have for instance as well as small entertainment venues in other inland touristy towns.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Is there any reason why UK parks seem to have more ride accidents than other developed countries?
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I don't think that's the case at all. Looking through this thread America seem to have a lot more than us, Australia a fair few too. I don't think it's a coincidence that the vast majority of reports on here are from English speaking nations. Foreign language reports in developed countries are far less likely to be noticed and posted here.
 
Not an accident but the Ferris wheel in Liverpool had a prohibition notice served on them as the ride hadn’t been stripped down since it was installed 10 years ago - the order has prevented a potential incident.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/new...ol-attraction-forced-halt-operations-19329716

A Liverpool attraction which is currently being dismantled was ordered to halt operations last year after health and safety breaches.

Confusion surrounded the future of the Liverpool Wheel when photos emerged last week of it being taken apart using a crane.

Now, a newly emerged prohibition notice for the Liverpool Wheel, located on the waterfront, shows that inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) deemed the attraction should stop operating in November last year.

The issuing of a prohibition notice orders an immediate stop to operations but they are only published on a public register five weeks later.

A short description under the prohibition indicates that the wheel had not had a "strip down" since it had been constructed more than a decade earlier.

The statement said: "The ride is over 10 years old and no major strip down has taken place of the assembly during this time to include the centre shaft assembly."

A statement attached to the order confirms that inspectors found a breach of part of the Health and Safety Act 1974.

No other specific details about the order have been published on the HSE website but a prohibition order is the strongest immediate measure that can be taken and is ordered when inspectors assess that there is a "risk of serious injury".
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An interesting thing (if you are interested in odd things I guess!), technical bulletin history for the king of the flat rides, Huss Breakdance. Details responses to various incidents including whole ride car detaching from rides, stress fractures, restraints opening because of us fatties bending the ride car frame, bits of ride flying off, and people getting things trapped in the spinning mechanism.

As an added bonus we also have the scrawled contact details for Ray Dubois, then overseeing this madness for Huss, now head of Merlin in Asia.
 
Oh I miss the days of trawling through all the readily available technical bulletins and warnings on LTCI’s website. Always made for interesting reading (especially when two very familiar Top Spins used to crop up in there :tearsofjoy:)
 
Ian said:
Oh I miss the days of trawling through all the readily available technical bulletins and warnings on LTCI’s website. Always made for interesting reading (especially when two very familiar Top Spins used to crop up in there :tearsofjoy:)
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... and a still somehow operating Top Scan!
 
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ringo said:
Not an accident but the Ferris wheel in Liverpool had a prohibition notice served on them as the ride hadn’t been stripped down since it was installed 10 years ago - the order has prevented a potential incident.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/new...ol-attraction-forced-halt-operations-19329716
Click to expand...
Fun bit of trivera for anyone thats interested. I was in Holland at the start of the year next to a similar Ferris Wheel on Scheveningen pier. This was at the same time as the terrible storms came across the Atlantic. Noticed one evening they had the wheel running with 2/3 of the pods removed. The next day only 6 of the pods were left (No longer running at this point). They'd removed the pods to protect them from damage in the storm, leaving only 6 to keep the wheels structural integrity. The remaining pods were swinging like mad in the wind, I almost saw them invert once or twice.

I didn't realise these wheels could have the pods removed so easily. It was fascinating to watch it in progress. Especially given that this wheel was over the sea.
 
The Big Apple coaster at New York New York has recently been testing with new trains from Premier over the past few weeks. Suddenly...


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