Safety at theme parks.

[Master Yoda]

There has been an outstanding number of deaths these past 2 years. I know a large majority is not down to health and safety but it doesnt look too good on disney, for the paranoid especially!

Three is outstanding? In the 2009 US department of labor showed that an average of 3.6 deaths per year per 100,000 employees. That is the lowest rate ever recorded and Disney is still comes in under that number. Sounds to me like they are doing something right.

SOURCE: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf

 

[Moritz Stiefel]

Three is outstanding? In the 2009 US department of labor showed that an average of 3.6 deaths per year per 100,000 employees. That is the lowest rate ever recorded and Disney is still comes in under that number. Sounds to me like they are doing something right.

SOURCE: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf

In these past 2 years! There have been more then 3. Maybe its been 3 years but it is still a large amount.

 

[WDW Vacationer]

Any former or current CMs feel unsafe? I'd love to know that.

I beleive that WDW sees safety as an important issue for guests and CMs. I don't think these accidents are results of poor safety standards,they are human error.

 

[Master Yoda]

In these past 2 years! There have been more then 3. Maybe its been 3 years but it is still a large amount.

It is 3 and still below the national average. It is a cold hard fact that people die in the workplace. If Disney was being negligent you would have a case but the simple fact is that they are not or at least it has not been shown that they have. The monorail accident was the result of several people not following the procedures, Mark Priest was a simple slip and fall accident. This is hardly a case of Disney removing a safety guard to avoid having to pay to fix it or something similar.

 

[hokielutz]

Looks like another bureaucrat with a burr up his.......

Just because the Bammster is taking heat for oversight somewhere else... does not warrant taking a swipe at Disney and other parks.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Looks like another bureaucrat with a burr up his.......

Just because the Bammster is taking heat for oversight somewhere else... does not warrant taking a swipe at Disney and other parks.

 

[wm49rs]

Some people still don't get it....

 

[fosse76]

I'm still trying to figure out how Disney could be considered liable in that situation. If he was given the proper training and just happened to trip or slip or whatever happened, and sustain life threatening injuries, how would Disney be to blame for something like that? It was a complete and utter accident, how could they have prevented it? Force every employee taking the Pirate tutorial to wear slip resistant boots and be strapped into a safety harness to protect them from themselves?

It happened while he was working, so unless Disney can prove he was purposefully negligent, they are automatically liable under the law. It can easily be argued that since he had no rehearsal in the on-stage area he was performing, he was not familiar with any deficiencies in the performance space that could cause an accident. It is absolutely Disney's responsibility to ensure the safety of its employees. Yes, it was an accident, but Disney is liable.

Any former or current CMs feel unsafe? I'd love to know that.

That doesn't matter. Feeling safe and being safe are very different. Before the monorail accident, I doubt any of the pilots actually felt unsafe. The actor in The Little Mermaid who fell 50 feet probably felt safe prior to that incident. So the question is irrelevant.

OSHA is an absolutely necessary agency. Like everything else in life, it needs employees who are willing to objectively investigate employers, and not selectively choose which ones.

That's not to say Disney isn't willfully negligent. There should be standards, and companies should be required to meet them.

 

[raven]

I'm still trying to figure out how Disney could be considered liable in that situation. If he was given the proper training and just happened to trip or slip or whatever happened, and sustain life threatening injuries, how would Disney be to blame for something like that? It was a complete and utter accident, how could they have prevented it? Force every employee taking the Pirate tutorial to wear slip resistant boots and be strapped into a safety harness to protect them from themselves?

All of those things are constanly being stressed at Disney. But when you do a stunt that isn't planned or approved by the company, as the guy in the pirate tutorial did, then you're on your own.

Any former or current CMs feel unsafe? I'd love to know that.

I beleive that WDW sees safety as an important issue for guests and CMs. I don't think these accidents are results of poor safety standards,they are human error.

True. Disney stresses safety every day. They focus in specific areas each week but everything is laid out when you are hired and trained in your specific areas. Last week they focused on wearing safety glasses while in a maintenence area but still some maintenence CMs and managers think it doesn't partain to them...even though they stress that everyone else obey the rules. That's simply a human error where someone will be hurt and end up blaming the company for down the road and will end up in the paper as well.

 

[EpcotServo]

said he was putting theme parks and other entertainment venues "on notice"

(But seriously, there should be some manner of safety shakeup. Disney's safer than most companies, but you'd be surprised at what can happen sometimes.)

 

[Kobe!!]

SafeD begins with who....

 

[MAGICFLOP]

Talk about people dying, With the brutal heat in the summer, I am surprised you don't see heart attacks constantly as you walk around Disney.

Some people you see look like airplanes sputtering with black smoke pouring out looking for a place to crash.

 

[TimNRA757]

Disney has a safer record than most airlines which is sad but true. It's the human element where things go wrong as they usually do. Bottom line, when accidents happen due to SOP's not being followed and people not paying attention to what they're doing (see last years monorail incident) and I don't think any amount of training or cash can just fix something like this.

 

[Phonedave]

True. Disney stresses safety every day. They focus in specific areas each week but everything is laid out when you are hired and trained in your specific areas. Last week they focused on wearing safety glasses while in a maintenence area but still some maintenence CMs and managers think it doesn't partain to them...even though they stress that everyone else obey the rules. That's simply a human error where someone will be hurt and end up blaming the company for down the road and will end up in the paper as well.

That is a HUGE problem and opens WDW up to some possible liabilities.

A company can have all kinds of methods and procedures in place, all properly documented. All training can be done, and the names, dates, and length of training recorded. However, if someone in a position of authority (i.e 'Management') sees an unsafe behavior, and does not correct that behavior, that can be argued to be passive approval of that behavior.

I have seen it happen, I have seen lawyers argue it, and I have 'written up' quite a number of people for safety infractions and had them argue that I was not "being fair". Fair is going home in one piece, not damaged or worse, not going home at all.

-dave

 

[Figment1986]

Disney employes how many front of the house cast members... and they have had enough incidents to be put on notice?

SeaWorld was a freak accident, and yet they are also on notice?

I hope a Team Member (TM) at universal or Busch doesn't trip and scrape their knee to get those parks on notice too.

 

[Phonedave]

You have no idea how much I wish you were exaggerating.

I do have an idea. I deal with this stuff all the time as well.

Oh the stories I could tell.


-dave

 

[TimNRA757]

I should also mention that, no joke, OSHA had the office building near me spend about $30K in training for "how to sit down in a chair" after an employee fell out of it because it slid away from them...

 

[disneydata]

SafeD begins with who....

Safe D begins with S. Anyone who tells you otherwise can't spell.

 

[niteobsrvr]

The public accidents are never the only incidents a company has and I am sure Disney is no different. Disney and other large companies have many many recordable and or reportable accidents each year.

Unfortunately, in the entertainment industry, OSHA has little in the way of specific regulations and is often trying to adapt General Industry standards to theatrical situations as in the case of the Pirate death.

 

[Tigerace81]

What, are you suggesting that a local newspaper in America is covering sensationalistic topics for the sake of readership? Tabloid behavior from mainstream publications? I'm shocked and chagrined! Next, you'll tell me that beautiful women are not employed by network news agencies because of their intellectual capacity! I think that the Orlando papers would report a broken toilet at WDW, and call it a major plumbing crisis that threatens public health all the way down to Miami.

Yeah, have you not realized most of the stories like this are written to get people to read it. Makes sense. It gets more subscriptions making you more money so why wouldnt you do it if you was a exec in a newspaper company?

As for this, nothing important. These recent accidents werent Disney's fault. Does Disney have total control of their employees? No. Does Disney have control of the guests? No. They only have control over security in the parks, the rides and security at the resorts. None of the recent accidents were their fault.