Brad2912

The 'full investigation' could take months. What do you suppose happens to the 600+ staff who need jobs to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads? As for doubts about their ability to judge the safety of their rides, they don't make that judgement alone, that judgement is made by an external & independent body when major maintenance periods occur.

I'm sure the rationale behind the change will figure into a large part of the investigation. Smaller gaps would mean less 'grab' ability for things to be caught and pulled along or under

Funnily no audio from her saying that, only the reporter. More sensationalist media rubbish. What she said was she wanted to ensure the police had the time and access required without hinderance. Given her comments later, I'm gonna say I don't think "they shouldn't open on Friday" never came out of her mouth.

Then your empathy & compassion levels are zero.

Heard no such thing and I saw her press conference this morning, she said that is a matter between the police and DW and she wasn't involved in that decision

That's not an excuse, it's a rationale reasoning given the night was aimed at being more graphic and full on and catering to adults.

Understand your point Alex. I took flowers down yesterday with my son, as a visual show of support, not only to the families, but also to the DW team and responders. I also got a chance to speak to a few people down there at the same time and was able to pass on my thoughts and offer condolence, and thank the Red Cross volunteers that are doing an amazing job down there.

That maintenance page was updated to what you posted AFTER the accident. There was no scheduled maintenance for the ride going into the day the incident occurred

Most people on social media saying "too soon", and "they shouldn't open til the coronial inquest is finalised". To them I say - there is no rule for this, or precedent. No matter what day or week they chose to re-open, they would have copped slack for it. And, if you want to keep a business that employs 600 people closed for potentially upwards of a year, you are impacting livelihoods, and causing widespread disruption & impacts for the entire Gold Coast. Reactionary, short-sighted and stupid imo.

If the park is cleared to return to trade, which would be a decision by the police once the park's current status as a crime scene is revoked, the park can open as per normal operations, albeit with potential exclusion zone around the incident area (I can foresee Buzzsaw potentially remaining closed due to its proximity to TRR)

Most recent 9 news report has an animation of the believed/likely version of events in the accident. No mention of water pumps. I think the pump issue may have been reason for the earlier shut down in the morning, but nothing to do with the fatal incident.

A FORMER Dreamworld employee who worked on the ride where four people were killed said he believed it had a “potentially fatal flaw.” Jon Armstrong worked as a ride operator on Thunder River Rapids on a casual basis for around six months in 1987, shortly after it was built. The 51-year-old from southern Queensland said he and his colleagues had a “similar problem” one day, when a raft that was still attached to its rope mooring flipped on the conveyor belt. “I was on ‘start-up’ duties for the ride, which involved walking the river bed before the pump started, check the raft inflation pressure and ensuring all rafts were untied,” he told news.com.au. “I was unaware this particular morning that one raft had two mooring lines attached by the overnight maintenance crew, the second rope being hidden on the far side of the raft and submerged. “When the ride started, this raft stuck and caused three other rafts to flip on the conveyor and four more to ‘mount’ the flipped rafts. “It’s lucky there was no one on board because if there had been, their body parts would have been pushed under the water ... and at that part, the water’s deep. “Luckily we had not allowed guests in to ride yet but those of us present at the time all agreed that this was a potentially fatal flaw.” After the incident there was a formal investigation, Mr Armstrong added, and safety procedures were tightened up. The park brought in more thorough checks the rafts were untied, cameras were installed and the shutdown switch was moved into the control room. Now most of the ride is automated, but Mr Armstrong — who now works in IT — says he believes there should be an automatic shutdown if a raft didn’t move up the conveyor belt. He said that at the time a raft with “small people” on it would slip at the top of the conveyor belt three or four times a day, sending children flying on to a raft behind. It would appear that issue was resolved some time ago. Mr Armstrong also said the rafts were heavy and “if one of the rafts got pushed around upside down, they wouldn’t know how to rescue themselves, they’d panic.” The former ride operator added: “When you walk around the river course, there are a lot of obstacles. If you’re whitewater rafting in the real world you have to wear a crash helmet. “I doubt I’d go on that ride until they changed the format. It needs a redesign.” In 2007, he was employed by a heavy engineering company commissioned to repair weld the Giant Drop and Tower of Terror rides. “The lead welder/engineer came back at the end of the day and told me he had serious doubts regarding the safety of those two rides as the fatigue damage his team repaired that day was extensive and indeed needed repeating a short time later.” While he may have harboured his concerns the longest, Mr Armstrong isn’t the first to express fears over the safety of the rides.

Great idea, though no doubt some elements of the media would report it as cashing in on tragedy with the park gaining in-park expenditure from those entering who usually wouldn't be there

I'd say that's fairly accurate tbh..

Ahh! Sorry mate missed it all together

It's unlikely the park will be open by Friday anyway which was the date of the first Halloween night. Even if they it does reopen prior, it's a decision I don't think would have been a tough one to make for sensitivity reasons

It's a tragedy that a record for this site, where we come to chat & celebrate something we all love, live and are passionate for, will stand for the darkest day in the history of GC theme parks, and one of the darkest in Australia's theme park History.

Some fairly ambiguous, sensationalistic statements in that article.

This was posted on QPS (Qld Police) FB page this morning.. SURELY this person is absolutely full of BS..

Agree with both of you, just reporting what had been said. Seems like a ridiculous time to go to the media with concerns, maybe they should have done that beforehand if they were so concerned with the parks receptiveness. I don't think the blame game should be happening less than 24hrs after the tradegy, well at least it shouldn't be being played out in the media

A senior official from the AWU just interviewed on radio saying they have been in constant contact with park management regarding employees concerns about ride safety and maintenance standards but have been continually palmed off by management

I understand your stance reanimated, to each their own when it comes to safety personally, whilst I've jumped back on GL (I gave it a few months of safe operation before i did), I don't think I could bring myself to ride TRR again IF it did re-open. Not knowing 4 people had perished in that same location. Maybe that's the shock speaking and it may soften over time, but given I've been putting my 4 year old on that ride since he turned 2, I can't shake the dread I feel just thinking about it. (My partner has already banned me from putting him on rides for the foreseeable future after today - again, everyone has a right to choose their reactions)

Well said MickeyD. I'll be doing likewise tomorrow.

I think most of us (minus the crazy people that have come out of the woodwork this afternoon) have come to a likely/logical chain of events that has led to the this tragedy. ive been stopped many times mid raise or drop on the conveyor, and whilst it isn't that steep, i have to say A few times I've thought if there was a shift of weight to the lower end of the tyre could it tip/fall back down the conveyer, and that was my initial thought when I heard the conveyor was involved today. As Alex raised, the key thing appears to be the Conveyor control. I'd imagine (without evidence to back it up) that it would be sensor based and no different to block brakes activating along a track as trains back up in a station. It seems to critical a process to be manually controlled given the gate controller wouldn't be able to constantly be 100% aware of every approaching raft whilst helping guest disembark etc

Here's a tip - before people really start telling you what they think of your ridiculously insensitive posts - read Alex's post above which is the most likely root cause of the accident - and then log off and come back when you've grown up.