http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-000039231jun04.story
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/orl-bizsafety05060502jun05.story
This should probably be a separate discussion but I do not want to register as a user just to suggest it.
http://disney.go.com/parksafety/5304.Disney.F.pdf
The company's been rocked by two very high profile incidents at Disneyland during the past four years. Luan Phi Dawson, 33, died after a metal cleat flew off the Columbia and struck him in the face on Dec. 24, 1998. An untrained supervisor was trying to moor the boat while it was still moving, a violation of basic watercraft safety principles. The supervisor was on the dock because Disney had eliminated leads in a cost-cutting move shortly before. The company then caught hell when authorities discovered that Disney had cleaned up the scene and interviewed witnesses before police were allowed into the park. That arrogance prompted the California legislature to pass a theme park safety law that had been bottled up for years.
In 2000, five-year-old Brandon Zucker suffered permanent brain damage after falling out of a cab on Roger Rabbit's Car-Toon Spin. That led the state of California to close the ride-the first statewide shut down under California's new theme park safety laws. Disney tried to pin the blame for the accident on the kid, but the state refuted that, instead laying blame on Disney's ride design.
The two incidents shocked and infuriated many people inside the company. In both cases, Disney was found 100 percent at fault. And in both cases, Disney got creamed in the local press-first for covering up the circumstances of a fatality (which is itself a felony), and then for blaming a innocent five-year-old kid for an accident that left him brain-damaged (which is just moronic PR).
Some people in the company wanted to circle the wagons even tighter, and work harder to control the flow of information out of the company. But others were sickened by Disney's recent safety performance and wanted immediate reform.
Over the past year, it appears that the second faction has gained control. Disney's stopped neglecting its Disneyland attractions, and started installing warning signs and safety gates throughout the Magic Kingdom. And now, Disney's gone on the PR offensive by releasing this report.
As was suggested on another thread, this change in attitude is part of larger changes happening now at the Walt Disney Company. The board has finally had enough, and demanded a turn-around plan for the company. According to people I've spoken with in the company, the change in attitude toward theme park safety and attraction maintenance is an early part of that still-developing plan.
I commend Disney for its renewed attention to safety. But having reviewed what Disney's doing in Disneyland, and what the company says it will do, in this report, I retain some concerns.
First, Disney's relying too much on non-human efforts to advise and guide guests. Warning signs and loading gates can be helpful for inexperienced or confused guests. But not as helpful as trained, experienced employees manning attraction entrances, as well as loading and unloading stations.
Gates can let people know when it is safe to get on a ride. But a gate can't offer a guest a hand as they step into their seat. A loading gate can't see an anxious child coming down the queue, and either take a moment to console him or gently ask his parents to step aside before he gets in and starts crying, forcing another operator to hold up the ride until he stops or gets off. Nor can a loading gate check lap bars and seat belts.
A warning sign can't stop a person who looks pregnant or may be walking with a limp, to ask questions, talk about the ride, and deny entry, if appropriate. No matter how big you make a sign, or how much neon and glitter you throw on it, some people are going to overlook it. Even some who are trying to find it.
Give me the ability to impose just two safety reforms on theme park industry and they would be these: Better staffing, and better restraints.
Parks should have one employee at the start of every ride queue. And they should have at least one employee at the loading and unloading station of each ride. They should also add an additional employee for every 24 guests who get on or off the attraction at each load or unload session (e.g. a boat, train or car stopping for people to get on or off.)
The additional employees may go on the ride vehicle with the guests, but at least one employee must stay at the load and unload stations at all times. If the load and unload stations are at the same place, one person may cover both. But if they are on opposite sides of the track, two people will be needed.
Of course, theme parks would do even better to ensure that the people stationed on their rides are trained and experienced by raising wages to a level where people could raise a family on them. Otherwise, good employees will continue to leave after a few months, or, at best, a couple years, to take higher-paying jobs. And the people staffing the rides will never have substantial experience.
Second, the theme park industry and its customers need someone to do more research on better ride restraints. Too often, existing lap bars, seat belts and over-the-shoulder restraints don't restrain people comfortably and effectively. The Roger Rabbit incident, and the recent Perilous Plunge death were both the result of poorly designed restraint systems. And there are hundreds of other examples of people getting hurt by ill-fitting or inadequate restraints.
I'm a gearhead, and have brought up motor racing as a model for safety standards before. The forces experienced by racers are similar to the forces felt by people on theme park rides. Let's learn from them. The amusement industry needs to work on developing seat, harnesses and restraints that better fit the public's wide variety of body types while restraining them in a safe and comfortable manner.
A single lap bar and a flat bench for a row of people doesn't do that. If the theme parks won't install better seats and restraint systems, then government or the courts should step forward and make them.
That's it. Not more signs. Not new age or weight restrictions. And not G-force limits. Those steps might help improve safety, but not as much as would better staffing and better restraints.
I agree...but a lot of others will disagree. Better staffing costs more money...where will that money come from (you just can't hire good help in Florida anymore)? Better restraints...depending on how you define "better" (bulkier, more restrictive, etc.)... will likely turn off thrillride enthusiasts whom parks are focusing their marketing efforts on these days...and who generate much of the revenue the parks rely on to maintain the market positions.
It's a viscious cycle.
You can hire plenty of good people in any market in America. You just have to offer a living wage. Companies that bellyache about not being able to hire good help are offering too little in compensation. Period.
Where will the money to hire adequate staffing come from? Initially, from company profits. But soon, the better service and safer rides will mean plenty of money from lower legal and insurance costs, as well as increased income from a more satisfied market.
If a company doesn't want to
spend the money necessary to run its business safely, then it deserves to get sued into obilivion.
As for better restraints, I think that improved restraints will likely be smaller and less intrusive. Bulk does not equal effectiveness, and I think the belief that it does is one of the problems we've had in the industry in recent years.
People shouldn't come off a ride with their head throbbing from banging against a bulky over-the-should restraint for three minutes. We need restraints that will hold people in place when then need to be, give them some "give" when that's appropriate and always remain comfortable, no matter what the rider's body type and size.
I think we can do better on that than the industry has. That's all I'm saying.
That in itself was suppose to be the saving grace, and like I told people when it was implemented, "This is just another PR move that'll do nothing different for the park."
Disney is just thinking of ways to make itself look better as the park that cares. But, you pay horrible wages, you'll get what you pay for!!!
Has anyone noticed that when there is an accident, it's ALWAYS the guest fault? This has to be Disney's excuse all the time. The cleat fell off but it's the guest fault for being there.. The routine is getting old, and people are starting to catch on, that the mouse is a bit conniving, no?
Hopefully this mess is cleaned up soon.. One can wish, no?
If he can shut something down, based solely on his and his staff's safety concerns, then this is significant. If not, then it's just PR.
Reports and press releases won't answer this question. Only time and experience will.
About the wages comment from Mr. Niles....the same thing can be said about hiring better teachers...state budgets would be hit hard initially, but the results may prove to be a good return on investment. The problem here is no one has the stomach to take the first step. The other part of the problem is most theme park jobs suck, so no one really wants to do them for very long...hence the need to rely on a young workforce who WILL work for minimum wage part-time or during seasonal periods.
And my final comment on the safety issue(s) is that there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to designing safety/comfort harnesses on attractions. Sure, Ford could build a truck that is nearly indestructible, but no one could afford it.
Same can be said of theme parks...you overdesign a rides safety features and then find out you can't afford it. It's an optimization process...and I don't think the safety records of theme parks are all that bad given the ENORMOUS number of people who ride the attractions. Just as there is no such thing as a perpetual motion machine, I don't think there is a thrillride in the world that is 100% safe and idiot-proof. To think otherwise is unrealistic.
I reject the idea that theme park jobs suck. In fact, I had more fun driving a raft on Tom Sawyer's Island than I've had at any other job I've held. That attraction drew a relatively literate crowd (hey, you had to know whom Tom Sawyer was), and there was always someone interesting to talk with.
A company that implements sensible rotations, gives employees authority to solve guest problems on the spot and treats its employees with dignity will create jobs that most certainly do not suck. And that employees will want to stick with for years.
If companies decide that they don't want to make the initial investment in good workers--fine. Then don't bellyache that you are not getting any. Rich executives that want it both ways--good labor, cheap cost--make me sick. Why should working families sacrifice so wealthy executives can make even more money?
Give me a company that's treating its people well and delivering great service--that's the company I want to support with my spending dollars.
Finally, no one's expecting theme parks to build perfect rides. But they can clearly do better. Disney did better on Roger Rabbit when the state insisted on it. So did Knott's on Perilous Plunge.
I bet there are plenty of other attractions whose restraint systems can be improved, without jeopardizing the financial health of their owners. Why wait for someone to die or be crippled? Companies that do wait end up losing more money on settlements, judgments and fines than they could have possibly saved by waiting.
Delaying improvement simply isn't worth the risk.
I did holiday jobs in the theme park, just selling ice cream in the beginning, and keeping flower beds clean. Over the following years I earned quite a lot, and enjoyed work on different atractions. I started at the age of 16 and did my last jow when I was 22. I've had a very good look at the internal functioning of a theme park, and the psychology of the visitors. There have been minor accidents and safety problems during these years, but every time something happened or was reported, changes were made and measures taken. I was "junior" at that time, but my comments were listened to. Then came the time I had other duties, studying at university (med school), leaving the area for many years. When a few years ago I came back to the area, to work in the local hospital, one of the senior colleagues was ready to retire. She asked me to help set up the new "catastrophy plan", imposed by the regional authorities. I had no formal traing in that type of work, but found it to be a very interesting experience. We decided to set up one global "safety committee", consisting of the mayor of the city, myself (representing the hospital and other healthcare providers), an external engineer from a consultancy bureau (expensive guy, but he does agreat job), the chief engineer of the theme park, the human resource manager of the theme park (also representing the theme park management), a representative from the regional authority (not a politician, we're lucky), and most important of all, a very good secretary, keeping tight schedules and reminding us all the time of the work still waiting.
We were a youthfull and happy team. We decide that we were not only going to make up the catastrophy plans, but form a regularly meeting team to monitor safety in and outside the park. It did take much more time and effort then we thought to get things sorted out. The hospital had planned to give me 2 hours per week for this during 1 year, but it turned out to be a mean of 3 hours for years in a row. This was funded by the hospital, but I managed to get hold of a very nice reduction for hospital staff.
We were in our first season when the first big problem started : an exceptionally hot and dry summer dehydrated people in waiting lines. And then we found out that there was not enough pressure on the water to do any decent cleaning, fire control, ... The list of problems was long, and it take a lot of money to get things sorted out. The town, proud of the presence of the theme park, and realizing it's role for the local community, helped with new signposting, access roads, water- and electricity infrastructure, and safety equipment. You can not imagine what needs to be done to come to a "safe park". I'm not saying it was unsafe before, but the types of attractions, the types of visitors, and the public opinion change all the time and call for stricter systems.
I myself was very proud for our "hospital out-post". It was a small building on the edge of the park, close to the entrance/exit, with room to see people with minor medical problems, but with a large stock of products in case of a catastrophy. Two year later we installed a small radiography machine and a plaster room. We are not sure we'll keep it operational, because of the high running costs.
Food poisoning has been a problem here too. In fact, only since I started personally to organize lectures at the beginning of every season for all kitchen and outlet employees, did things go in the right direction. But when salmonella is found in prepackaged food you buy from a normally reliable vendor ... there is nothing you can really do. Setting up our own laboratory is just a step too far. A step that was not too far was ... a truckload of new fridges for all the kitchens.
Maybe we're lucky, but we haven't had any serious mechanical problems with the coasters and other attractions. Most scary were at some time computer problems on a dual coaster. We closed it down for 6 days in the middle of the high season, and allthough park management didn't like this at all, they realized this was for the best and they didn't try to overturn that decision.
Everything was just fine, season after season ended without big problems, without accidents with lasting consequences, without lawsuits, without the need to apply our so nicely laid out catastrophy plan. Understanding between our committee and the park management was good, even very good.Consumer organisations who came to "test" our park had to publish that "the sun was too hot" or the "burgers too fat", but didn't find any real problems (to be honnest, they found that the warning signs were not clear enough, and they found some of the staff on duty "too young"). Signs were adapted, but season staff are always students.
People, mainly the children, feel "free" when a day out to the theme park, and have much more difficulties respecting the security notices then one would think. I'm not blaming customers in general , but I can imagine that the same happens at Disney as it does here : one in every 250.000 guests combines bad luck with a serious breech of security guidelines.
Again, I'm not blaming customers for every accident, certainly not the small children, but one shouldn't swing to the opposite side either, blaming park management by definition.
From contact with the police we know that a lot more accidents happen on the roads to and from the park then within the park. So that's where the real danger is for me.
I'm not one of these security guys who "has seen it all" and tends to loosen the grip a bit. On the contrary : the fact that during all the years our team has been here and has been working hard, resulted in O fatal accidents, 9 accidents (involving 15 people) requiring hospitalisation, and around 1400 visits to the first aid booth at the park (over 8 years, the 1400 number is per year). All of the 15 people taken into hospital have left the hospital within 48 hours.
I'm not supposed to communicate to the general public (PR people, you know), so I'm not including my name or the park or the hospital I'm affiliated with. I'm talking about one of the larger european parks with around 1 million visitors per year.
I'll keep doing my work (in team, as always), and I hope the park visitors will continue to follow the safety rules.
Bye,
DG in T
just in one ride while at grad night years back the haunted mansion was stopped numerous times to tell people to sit down in the doom buggies. there are more car accidents on the way to the park than there are accidents in the park but no on is getting after disney for those because after all disney did lure those unsuspecting drivers to their gates...
I know Disney does a fine job of prevention with the millions that pass through their system. One has to keep in mind the employee intervention Disney must engineer out. Employee "injuries" account for a considerably high number of costs. That is in every large organization. I suspect they spend more money there than any other item in the que.
