$3.6m fine but a deadly price
FOR minimal cost and minimal effort, Dreamworld could have taken steps to improve safety and prevent the Thunder River Rapids Ride tragedy, a court has found.
Magistrate Pamela Dowse on Monday fined Dreamworld parent company Ardent Leisure $3.6 min relation to the October 25, 2016 disaster.
The maximum fine available was $4.5m.
Four people – Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low – lost their lives when a pump stopped working on the Thunder River Rapids Ride for the third time just after 2pm almost four years ago.
The water levels dropped and a raft became stuck on a conveyor belt.
That raft was hit by another carrying Mr Dorsett, his sister Ms Goodchild, her daughter Ebony (above), then 12, Mr Araghi, Ms Low and her son, Keiran, 10.
The raft flipped to a vertical position. Ms Goodchild and Mr Dorsett were shaken out and fell in to the conveyor.
Ebony was held in her seat by a velcro seatbelt. Mr Araghi and Ms Low also died. Keiran was able to escape uninjured.
Magistrate Dowse said she found there were steps Ardent Leisure could have taken to minimise the risk of injuring or killing someone.
“The steps were not that complex or burdensome and only were mildly inconvenient or really were inexpensive,” she said.
The court found that some of the measures were as simple as labelling the emergency stop button clearly.
Other measures that should have been taken included modifications to ensure rafts could not get stuck in the conveyor, installing an emergency stop button on the control panel, providing adequate training, including emergency drills, to staff, giving clear directions to staff and having clear procedures in place.
Magistrate Dowse also found little was done to ensure safety after empty rafts collided on the ride in 2001.
“The failures of the defendant were not momentary, nor were they confined to a discrete safety obligation,” she said.
“They encompassed failures in each of the following: the provision of maintenance in safe plant and structures, the provision of maintenance of safe systems of work, the provision of information, training and instruction to staff.”
Magistrate Dowse said the steps taken by Ardent Leisure prior to the tragedy were “grossly below the standards rightly expected of it”.
She said the park was the “most iconic theme park in the country”.
“Complete and blind trust was placed in the defendant by every guest who rode the Thunder River Rapids Ride, and those guests were extremely vulnerable,” she said.
Magistrate Dowse recorded a conviction against Ardent Leisure. The company has a month to pay the fine.
Defence barrister Bruce Hodgkinson opened his submissions with an apology from Ardent Leisure to the families of the four who died.
“Ardent expresses its deepest sympathies to the immediate families and also apologises to those who have been impacted by the tragedy,” he said.
An apology was also offered to first responders, those working at the theme park and anyone who suffered after the tragedy.
Mr Hodgkinson said the park had undergone a number of “learnings” since the tragedy. He said a number of changes had happened including a complete park audit, decommissioning the ride and emergency procedures.
“Ardent accepts the responsibility for this tragedy,” he said.
Mr Hodgkinson said the company had a commitment to learn from the tragedy.
The road to sentencing has been long. In 2018 an inquest into the disaster began and was held for more than six weeks in four blocks of sittings.
In February this year coroner James Mcdougall handed down his findings and recommended the matter be referred to the Office of Industrial Relations.
On July 20, the OIR pressed charges against the theme park giant. Two days later Ardent Leisure indicated in a letter it would plead guilty.