STAFF NOT TRAINED
DREAMWORLD has not introduced drills or emergency simulations in almost two years since the tragedy on the Thunder River Rapids Ride, a senior ride operator told an inquest.
Ride operator Tim Williams said since the 2016 disaster that killed four people the park still had not put staff through drills or simulations.
A VISIBLY upset Courtney Williams told the Dreamworld inquest her supervisors “never visited” while she was manning any of the rides during her time at the park.
The junior ride operator was working on the Thunder River Rapids Ride on the day four people were killed on October 25, 2016.
The young woman’s voice wavered as she answered most questions put to her by more than half a dozen lawyers at the Southport Coroner’s Court yesterday.
Barrister Bruce Hodgkinson, acting for Dreamworld owner Ardent Leisure, asked Ms Williams about the interaction she had with supervisors after she was trained to operate a ride.
“They never visited,” Ms Williams replied.
She told the inquest she only saw supervisors when being trained or if she called
‘THE RIDE OPERATORS ARE VICTIMS AS WELL’
when having a problem with the ride she was operating.
Ms Williams received 90 minutes of training on the morning of the tragedy.
Before beginning questioning yesterday, Ms Williams’ lawyer Peter Callaghan warned she was left “highly distressed” after giving evidence on Wednesday.
“Ms Williams is mortified to think she might have done anything to upset any of the (families),” he said.
Mr Callaghan urged other lawyers to keep in mind Ms Williams’ emotional condition after having to “relive’’ the horrific incident yesterday.
Coroner James McDougall also banned Dreamworld CEO Craig Davidson’s barrister Gavin Handran from playing the harrowing CCTV footage leading up to the graphic incident.
He said he did not see why Ms Williams needed to see it.
Steven Whybrow, barrister for the families of Ms Goodchild and Mr Dorsett, again quizzed Ms Williams about the emergency stop button she was standing near when the tragedy happened.
Ms Williams has told the inquest she had been told “not to worry” about the button as no one used it and did not know what the button did.
Mr Whybrow asked if the button had been labelled and she knew what it did, would she have pressed the button.
“I would have done everything that I could have to do that,” she said.
A memorandum was posted by Dreamworld about the same emergency button on October 18, 2016, urging operators to only press that button if the person at the main control panel was incapacitated or in an emergency situation.
At the time of the disaster, senior ride operator Peter Nemeth was at the main controls.