Safety Raid at DLR. Could it happen here?

[JimboJones123]

it's because of sizes, they have enough space to make four parks that cover many different themes that can allow assortments of rides and spread them out.

if any certain rides are closed down they can very easily be all in one whole park which is very bad.

Am I reading this post right? Is it a defense for building 2 half parks?

 

[J03Y]

Am I reading this post right? Is it a defense for building 2 half parks?

it's not a defense... ???

it's me pointing out the reason. i'm not defending anything.

 

[JenniferS]

Don't know yet, but I don't think they can be fined because no one has been injured at those. Space Mountain was a formal investigation because a contracted worker who was hired to clean the roof of Space Mountain wasn't wearing his safety harness correctly. He slipped and fell 20 feet down the side of Space Mountain, landing at the bottom of the dome and had to be lowered to the ground by the fire department. He sustained minor injuries and was released from the hospital a short time later. Disneyland was fined $234,000 by the state government for that accident, even though it wasn't even a Disney Cast Member who slipped.

I hear ya. I work for a new home builder and just recently the Super was in, all ticked off because we were fined because of an untethered sub-trade (roofer). Apparently he was tethered, moved to another part of the roof, did not re-tether and Bob's-your-uncle, we are fined, and shut down for two days.
We have similarly been fined because someone once shut off the heater in the potty. I guess the guy was in there for a while, got hot, shut it off, and neglected to turn it back on. Then the city inspector comes out, finds it off and fines the Builder.
Some of this is sheer lunacy.

 

[SkipperButler]

Honestly, there's no excuse. Things like fall protection, railing heights, and fire extinguisher inspections are the most basic of HSE requirements. Someone should lose his job, possibly multiple people.

I just found out yesterday that WDW attractions Cast Members are required to check fire extinguishers daily, however the state only requires them to be checked once a month.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Well.... I'm not sure management can be trusted anyone to "do the right thing." right now theyre proving themselves to be cheap and with the lack of preventative maintenance, I'd really like to see more oversight.

Its a damn shame that a governmental agency has to exist just to get Disney to maintenance on its rides and insure safety.

 

[eblaz37]

I see nothing funny about this! And yet, half the posts I read all seem to think of this as some kind of joke!

And just what I need to discover about the incident, and when I plan to go sometime in late June, too. I sure hope everything has been fixed up by then.

It's funny because it was bound to happen. And PARANOIA MUCH?!?! Haha.

 

[The Mom]

Well.... I'm not sure management can be trusted anyone to "do the right thing." right now theyre proving themselves to be cheap and with the lack of preventative maintenance, I'd really like to see more oversight.

Its a damn shame that a governmental agency has to exist just to get Disney to maintenance on its rides and insure safety.

It doesn't exist just because of Disney. But I agree it's a shame that many companies would not/do not care about safety until they are forced to do so.

 

[andyman8]

To be honest, when I rode Splash at DLR, I did wonder how that could meet certain safety requirments. If you've ever written, there's virtually nothing keep you from standing up (no seat-belts or bars) and there's nothing to hold onto except to thin metal bars on the side of the log. While it's not entirely different at the WDW one, that one isn't as closed to the actual water (there's more vehicle between your seat and the bottom of the vehicle) and there is a bar to hold on to.

That being said, this seems more like CA trying to squeeze money from yet another organization more than any safety concerns. I can firmly say that none of the other rides made me feel unsafe in any way. Also, keep in mind, DOSH has been inspecting these same rides every year and no major changes have been made to any of them (w/ the exception of Matterhorn though the ride set up and safety features did not change) in the last two years. Also, is there not more important things that the state of CA should be doing than inspecting Disneyland's safety standards.

 

[TP2000]

For those keeping score at home...

The Matterhorn Bobsleds have reopened on Sunday morning and are back to normal operation. But Space Mountain and Soarin' Over California remain closed. The local media has finally picked up on it, after constant updates from Miceage for the last 36 hours. But still no real official word from Disney or DOSH.

 

[Did Knee]

I was not talking about the report, but the back and forth in this thread reads like three children fighting. Where in my post did it say that I was laughing at the report??? You really should not make ASSumptions.

I apologize for my assumption, but in my defense you didn't make it clear what you were laughing at. Frankly the discussion in this thread was anything but laughable from my point of view. But I am truly sorry for assuming that you were laughing at the report.

 

[Tom]

Bureaucrats

Can't happen here so this should be Disneyland Forum bound.

How do you figure? It most certainly CAN happen at WDW (and probably should more often).

OSHA exists everywhere. Each state calls it something different, and manages it at different levels, but WDW is absolutely under the jurisdiction of any governmental agency that's higher than RCID, including the County and State.

If OSHA wanted to make a surprise inspection at WDW, they have the right to. And if they find violations, they will write them up. If they're serious, there will be an immediate fine. If they're corrected on the spot, the fine is usually waived. Unfortunately, we only hear of OSHA cracking down on WDW after something tragic happens (like the monorail accident). They need to be more proactive - for employee and guest safety reasons.

In the case of this DLR incident, Disney has flagrantly neglected their safety obligations. If they were audited 7 years ago, and still haven't remedied the violations - especially after someone was injured as a result of their failures - they deserve every penny of these fines.

 

[Tom]

I don't kow about Cali, but I know WDW is heavly involved in both political parties in Florida with deep influence and relationships, with sway over county commissions, state goverment agencies, etc. so if this happened in Florida today, there would be some unemployed inspectors tomorrow. WDW is a different entity to the state of FL than DLR is to Cali, which is boarderlined worshipped in FL (and IS worshipped in central Florida) rather than DLR.

It's true that Florida government doesn't want to anger the mouse too much, since Mickey is their bread and butter. However, that doesn't mean they look the other way when it comes to safety. In fact, if an inspector found something and wrote Disney up, they most certainly wouldn't be fired. Imagine if his "ignoring" of a violation resulted in a serious injury or death.

The monorail accident is a good example of how OSHA and DOT didn't hold back when it came to citing every possible deficiency they could. It's just a shame they hadn't done so before the tragedy happened.

 

[Skooterkid]

Can anyone tell me what happened to the Alice in Wonderland ride a few years ago?

 

[LaughingGravy]

I forget which agency called them on it, but there was a beautifully designed part of the ride where the car comes outside briefly.

It had been that way for decades without any incident. They forced them to put safety railings.
Luckily, I was able to ride it about 2 months prior to the "modification"
The last time I was there, it looked like this.

It was so awesome before. Now it is uninspired and boring.
The ride is still worth going on, but it used to be so cool to ride outside above everybody in the open.
Now, it seems like a kiddy ride. I know that sounds funny, but it does!

 

[Computer Magic]

Well.... I'm not sure management can be trusted anyone to "do the right thing." right now theyre proving themselves to be cheap and with the lack of preventative maintenance, I'd really like to see more oversight.

Its a damn shame that a governmental agency has to exist just to get Disney to maintenance on its rides and insure safety.

I was thinking the same thing. What happen to safety above all?

 

[unkadug]

I was thinking the same thing. What happen to safety above all?

It got trumped by Efficiency

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

Just saw this little blurp on Yahoo. Disneyland voluntarily shut down a couple attractions after being cited for safety violations.

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/space-mountain-closed-disney-reviews-safety-215151005.html

 

[Clever Name]

How do you figure? It most certainly CAN happen at WDW (and probably should more often).

OSHA exists everywhere. Each state calls it something different, and manages it at different levels, but WDW is absolutely under the jurisdiction of any governmental agency that's higher than RCID, including the County and State.

Sorry, but that's not true to wit:

"Florida has some of the toughest rules in the country when it comes to the inspection and monitoring of carnivals and small amusement parks, experts say. But a loophole in state law exempts Florida's theme parks from those rules, which include government inspections.

After a series of tragic theme-park accidents across the country in the late 1990s, Disney World, Universal and SeaWorld agreed to let state inspectors visit their properties in October 1999. Officials with the Fair Rides Inspection Bureau said those site visits gave them "a reasonable degree of confidence" in the parks' rides.

Disney, Universal and SeaWorld later entered into a "memorandum of understanding" with the rides-inspection bureau to begin voluntarily reporting accidents that result in serious injury. The agreement defines a serious injury as one requiring "immediate admission and hospitalization in excess of 24 hours for purposes other than medical observation."

http://www.birket.com/articles/135

 

[Nemo14]

Discussion going on here:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/safety-raid-at-dlr-could-it-happen-here.863339/#post-5432176

 

[lego606]

For those keeping score at home...

The Matterhorn Bobsleds have reopened on Sunday morning and are back to normal operation. But Space Mountain and Soarin' Over California remain closed. The local media has finally picked up on it, after constant updates from Miceage for the last 36 hours. But still no real official word from Disney or DOSH.

I believe the Matterhorn was an unrelated closure