AK worker injured

[tigsmom]

WESH 2 news has reported that the cm passed away.

http://www.wesh.com/news/14726804/detail.html

I'm not surprised ...she was reported in "grave condition" after she took a turn for the worst. Grave is one of the worst classifications. Head injuries have a tendency to go from bad to worse as the swelling of the brain increases.

 

[tigsmom]

Orlando ABC affiliate is still reporting "very bad shape"
http://www.wftv.com/news/14730260/detail.html

:shrug:

She's a 63 year old woman, for some reason I had it in my head that this was a young person.

Continued prayers...

Disney worker dies after falling from ride platform

Bianca Prieto
Sentinel Staff Writer
8:05 PM EST, November 29, 2007



A Disney employee who fell from a ride platform over the weekend died Thursday evening, according to Disney officials.

"Our sympathies are with the family tonight," said Jacquee Polak, Disney spokeswoman. "We offer them our support during this difficult time."

The woman, who was in her 60s, was a ride attendant on the Primeval Whirl, a roller coaster type ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom. She stepped into a prohibited area on a platform and was hit by a moving car.

She fell and hit her head, Polak said.

The woman's name was not released, at the family's request, Polak said.

Earlier in the day, several local news outlets reported that the woman had died, though that information was erroneous.

The Occupational Safety and Heath Administration was at Disney today to inspect the ride, Polak said.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office is also investigating.
Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel

 

[mpoppins76]

Disney worker dies after falling from ride platform

Bianca Prieto
Sentinel Staff Writer
8:05 PM EST, November 29, 2007



A Disney employee who fell from a ride platform over the weekend died Thursday evening, according to Disney officials.

"Our sympathies are with the family tonight," said Jacquee Polak, Disney spokeswoman. "We offer them our support during this difficult time."

The woman, who was in her 60s, was a ride attendant on the Primeval Whirl, a roller coaster type ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom. She stepped into a prohibited area on a platform and was hit by a moving car.

She fell and hit her head, Polak said.

The woman's name was not released, at the family's request, Polak said.

Earlier in the day, several local news outlets reported that the woman had died, though that information was erroneous.

The Occupational Safety and Heath Administration was at Disney today to inspect the ride, Polak said.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office is also investigating.
Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel

Oh. Yup, the time on this one is later so it's probably more accurate.

 

[justducky78]

How terrible!!! My thoughts go out to her family..

 

[unkadug]

This is indeed very sad news.

 

[MythBuster]

That is very sad news indeed. But a lot of CM injuries are covered up and not reported. But what can they do to prevent it happening in the future? Hire more people, spend more time training people properly?

But I smell a cover up, the Official Disney version and what really happened is totally different as told by my friends work at AK in Dinoland. I just hope the truth and whole story comes out.

 

[Spyne]

Aww man. I'm sorry to hear about this, my thoughts and prayers to the family in this difficult time.

 

[DisneyBuffinDE]

That is very sad. I send my thoughts to the family.

I too work in manufacturing and understand the OSHA regs. Although some may think we are wrong for bring the regs up it makes sense. We are not being callous it is just the way we understand what happens. I do hope that OSHA's investigation finds the cause to this so other cast members can be retrained so it never happens again. I also hope that Disney has a near miss reporting system, this way it may prevent another bad incident.

I am already deep in thought about life/death I lost a friend of the family today to cancer.

My thoughts are with all of the CMs friends and family.

 

[wdwmomof3]

This is so sad. I hope that they do something about it so that this never happens again. My heart goes out to her friends & family.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

I hope she recovers. Terrible news. But that ride is labelled as a childrens ride, when i went on it it jolted me so much it actually hurt. probably the worst ride ever. if it wasnt ever there, that would not have happened. and i think AK should have binned that ride. most importantly though, i hope the poor girl is ok

Where is it labeled as a kids ride? It has the tallest height restriction in the park. Anywho...what does any of that have to do with the accident that occurred? The worker didn't get injured/killed because of how jerky the ride is...

My thoughts go out to the workers' family. So tragic.

 

[nyfrenchy]

And now for a fine example of very very poor editing from the Orlando Sentinel.....

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...07nov29,0,7938238.story?coll=orl_tab01_layout

The woman was identified by Orange County Sheriff's Office at [sic!] Karen Price, 63. [...] The woman, who was in her 60s, was a ride attendant on the Primeval Whirl. [...] The woman's name was not released, at the family's request, Polak said.

 

[wdwishes2005]

That's incredibly sad.

 

[Rob562]

How far did she fall?

Well, if she fell from the load/unload platform, that's only about 2-3 feet off the ground. But it's concrete underneath, and there's also a lot of ride structure with beams and bolts that could cause injury if you fall in just the right(wrong) way.

-Rob

 

[sbkline]

if it wasnt ever there, that would not have happened. and i think AK should have binned that ride. most importantly though, i hope the poor girl is ok

And if Mission Space was never there, no one would have died on it. And if Tom Sawyers Island wasn't there, no one would have ever drowned trying to swim over there after hours. Heck, if Disney World was never there, there are many deaths that would not have taken place. Let's just close down WDW and be done with it...

Terrible news about her passing, though. Prayers go out to the family.

 

[AstareGod]

My condolences go out to the family and friends.

One thing I have been wondering... the article (I guess) says that the area she was in was not supposed to be occupied while the ride was operating. Quick question. I know for a fact that three attractions have posted signs stating that CMs requesting access to restricted areas must call a certain number (usually maintenance/engineering/ride access control) and the number is clearly visible from the guests' view. Test Track and Dinosaur have these signs, and you can see the one for Big Thunder Mountain RR while on the WDW RR (the sign is on a door, stating that opening the door would cause the ride to stop operating/e-stop).

I'm wondering why these same safety mechanisms obviously weren't in place with Primeval Whirl. Either the e-stop wasn't triggered, or she found some way of circumventing the safety switch. I have faith that the safety mechanism works (don't they do ride inspections every morning? I know Typhoon Lagoon does) so I'm wondering how this could've happened in the first place, given the information that has been disseminated to us.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

It depends on what is meant by "prohibited" section of the attraction.

On attractions such as TTA, we have many "prohibited" areas that would not automatically set off an e-Stop. It's possible that she just stepped too close to the track and into the path of an oncoming car.

It's a terrible thing, and my condolences go out to the family.

However... I've heard... different stories than the version released by Disney from a few friends who work in Dinoland U.S.A... so we'll see. One has to wonder why she was even in a RAC zone in the first place...

 

[Fantasmic]

How tragic.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

I don't like attractions that make you "hurry" to get into the ride vehicle. That is definitely one of them. Getting on and off that attraction is always a pain especially since there is only one exit and four people need to get "unsituated" prior to exiting.

The worst is Kali and rapid rides like it. You have 8 (10?) people getting in, buckled, and things stored away...with only (at most) 2 entrances to do it.

 

[momofnine]

SO SAD... my thoughts and prayers go out to the family.. rip cm.

 

[KeeKee]

Regardless of who's at fault or why this happened, the fact is that a family lost a loved one and is grieving - at Christmas time... Let's all remember them in our prayers.