3 Monorail Employees Suspended

[trr1]

I dont know if this was posted

Three Walt Disney World Monorail Employees Suspended
By Leah Zanolla
Jul 9, 2009

Walt Disney World officials have announced that three employees have been suspended with pay after Sunday's deadly monorail crash. A monorail shop cast member, the on duty monorail transportation manager and a monorail pilot were suspended due to the pending investigation, not disciplinary action.

 

[EPCOTPluto]

Interesting. Thanks for the news.

 

[tigsmom]

Saw that earlier today when I was catching up on the news.

Here is the entire story as read on CNN.com--

(CNN) -- Three Disney monorail workers have been placed on paid leave just days after two monorail trains crashed at the Orlando, Florida, theme park, killing one of the train's operators, according to a Disney spokeswoman.

Walt Disney World spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said the action was "part of an investigative process, not a disciplinary action."

The three workers were a monorail maintenance shop member, the monorail pilot of one of the trains and a transportation manager.

Disney would not name the employees.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the Sunday morning accident, is expected to be at the park for several days.

"To this point in the investigation, no anomalies or malfunctions have been found with the automatic train stop system or with any mechanical components of the switch or with either trains," the NTSB said in a statement.

The crash killed operator Austin Wuennenberg, 21. The operator of the other train was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released. Additionally, six passengers on Wuennenberg's train were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Wuennenberg was piloting the "Purple" train. The other train, known as the "Pink" train, was operated by one of the employees who has since been placed on leave. The Pink train was instructed to go back through a track switch that would take it from the monorail's Epcot loop to the Magic Kingdom loop.

"For undetermined reasons that are currently under investigation, the switch had not changed position needed to allow the Pink train to be routed to the Magic Kingdom loop," putting the Pink and Purple trains on a collision course, the NTSB statement said.

NTSB investigators believe that Wuennenberg attempted to put his train into reverse before the collision, attempting to avoid the crash.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating Wuennenberg's death, would not comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

 

[Main Street USA]

Yes, this was posted in the other monorail thread last night. I know things can get buried, though, so....

 

[joel_maxwell]

Yes, this was posted in the other monorail thread last night. I know things can get buried, though, so....

Yep. Sometimes you just dont have the time to sift through all the pages.

I feel for the pilot of the pink or person responsible for a non track switch. I cant imagine the amount of grief one feels for this type accident.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Good. It is unbelievable how irresponsible they were...Denny's!?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Saw that earlier today when I was catching up on the news.

Here is the entire story as read on CNN.com--

(CNN) -- Three Disney monorail workers have been placed on paid leave just days after two monorail trains crashed at the Orlando, Florida, theme park, killing one of the train's operators, according to a Disney spokeswoman.

Walt Disney World spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said the action was "part of an investigative process, not a disciplinary action."

The three workers were a monorail maintenance shop member, the monorail pilot of one of the trains and a transportation manager.

Disney would not name the employees.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the Sunday morning accident, is expected to be at the park for several days.

"To this point in the investigation, no anomalies or malfunctions have been found with the automatic train stop system or with any mechanical components of the switch or with either trains," the NTSB said in a statement.

The crash killed operator Austin Wuennenberg, 21. The operator of the other train was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released. Additionally, six passengers on Wuennenberg's train were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Wuennenberg was piloting the "Purple" train. The other train, known as the "Pink" train, was operated by one of the employees who has since been placed on leave. The Pink train was instructed to go back through a track switch that would take it from the monorail's Epcot loop to the Magic Kingdom loop.

"For undetermined reasons that are currently under investigation, the switch had not changed position needed to allow the Pink train to be routed to the Magic Kingdom loop," putting the Pink and Purple trains on a collision course, the NTSB statement said.

NTSB investigators believe that Wuennenberg attempted to put his train into reverse before the collision, attempting to avoid the crash.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating Wuennenberg's death, would not comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

It's important to note the highlighted pieces above. They were put on paid leave and not suspended according to this article. Suspension is a disciplinary action and the time missed is not paid. Leave is time that you are asked to not work for whatever reason but still paid. In the article it quotes someone as indicating this leave is for the investigation process. I'm sure there are a lot of different interviews being given to these people by several different investigators. Coming from a military family and law enforcement background this is a very important difference in suspension and paid leave. Also, in the law enforcement field it is standard that if a major event occurs resulting in the death of their own personnel, coworkers who were directly involved are given some time off and counseling to deal with the emotional and psychological impact of the event. Failing to provide this recovery process can create more dangerous situations in the future if the people are performing their job duties and become overwhelmed by their emotions or memories.

:wave:

 

[gjohnson66]

I feel for the pilot of the pink or person responsible for a non track switch. I cant imagine the amount of grief one feels for this type accident.

I have to agree about pink's pilot-- poor fellow. He was just following instructions and someone died because of it.

 

[unkadug]

The more I think about the whole Denny's thing, the madder it makes me.

If I were the AG for Florida, I think I would bring them up on charges of manslaughter.

 

[Figment632]

This is BS suspended with pay, in other words a free vacation. A man was killed these people should have been fired.

 

[ttalovebug]

The more I think about the whole Denny's thing, the madder it makes me.

If I were the AG for Florida, I think I would bring them up on charges of manslaughter.

I completely agree. It seems so unfathomable to me that this guy was off-property. Ridiculous.

 

[The Conundrum]

The more I think about the whole Denny's thing, the madder it makes me.

If I were the AG for Florida, I think I would bring them up on charges of manslaughter.

What happened at Denny's?

 

[Tom]

What happened at Denny's?

Reportedly, one of the monorail Managers was eating at Denny's and was communicating from there via radio.

This is not confirmed, just what was reported.

 

[nolatron]

Since they are finding no mechanical issues with safety systems and switches, is it possible this could turn into a criminal homicide case if the NTSB rules the cause of accident was due to negligence of one or more of the suspended employees?

 

[nolatron]

I have to agree about pink's pilot-- poor fellow. He was just following instructions and someone died because of it.

He still should have noticed he backed up onto the wrong track, instructions or not. He was the last line in the chain of events that lead to the accident, and could have prevented this from happening had he been paying attention.

 

[Tom]

Since they are finding no mechanical issues with safety systems and switches, is it possible this could turn into a criminal homicide case if the NTSB rules the cause of accident was due to negligence of one or more of the suspended employees?

It's up to a prosecutor to decide if criminal charges will be pressed against any employee.

Possible charges on any of the employees COULD include involuntary manslaughter, negligence, reckless endangerment, or a number of others.

If it's determined that someone intended for this to happen, that opens a whole other world of possible charges - but that's unlikely. Likewise, if more than one person was involved in this intentionally happening, that would involve conspiracy charges.

If any charges are filed, I would see them being more in the first category of "unintentional" charges. Hopefully there are no charges filed on anyone and Disney just settles with the family and terminates any employee who broke a rule or went against a procedure that subsequently allowed this to happen.

 

[Tom]

He still should have noticed he backed up onto the wrong track, instructions or not. He was the last line in the chain of events that lead to the accident, and could have prevented this from happening had he been paying attention.

We don't know this. Unless you have personally backed a monorail up in this exact spot yourself, in the same weather conditions and at the same time of day - you absolutely can NOT determine if the Pink pilot could have prevented this.

I've been in the front of a monorail cab when it's been very humid and dark outside. The bottom half of the windshield is fogged up, and you can't see much unless there is ample light outside your train. If he was backing up at 15mph, blindly, it could have been very easy to think he was on the correct track until he saw the Control Tower on his left instead of his right - which is too late.

Let's just sit tight and wait for the reports to come out. It's not fair to place blame on Pink pilot - especially with the grief he must be suffering already.

 

[unkadug]

IMO the blame lies on one of two people.

The person calling for the switch to be thrown, or the person responsible for actually throwing the switch.

 

[Tom]

IMO the blame lies on one of two people.

The person calling for the switch to be thrown, or the person responsible for actually throwing the switch.

Assuming reports we've heard are correct, I agree. Someone is definitely at fault here, but we don't know enough yet to point fingers. Everything so far he hearsay.

Looking forward to the official reports. Lots of people need closure here.

 

[NewfieFan]

We don't know this. Unless you have personally backed a monorail up in this exact spot yourself, in the same weather conditions and at the same time of day - you absolutely can NOT determine if the Pink pilot could have prevented this.

I've been in the front of a monorail cab when it's been very humid and dark outside. The bottom half of the windshield is fogged up, and you can't see much unless there is ample light outside your train. If he was backing up at 15mph, blindly, it could have been very easy to think he was on the correct track until he saw the Control Tower on his left instead of his right - which is too late.

Let's just sit tight and wait for the reports to come out. It's not fair to place blame on Pink pilot - especially with the grief he must be suffering already.

That is a very good point!