Upper Clements’ rollercoaster closed to riders
Inspection on working conditions for maintenance to ride has been required
The Tree Topper Rollercoaster at Upper Clements Park in Annapolis Royal has been closed since early June and it wasn’t known last week when it will be back up and running.
The rollercoaster was shut down for maintenance in June. Soon after the department of Labour and Advanced Education’s Technical Safety group did a regular inspection of the maintenance work being done.
During the inspection the department says members of the safety group found concerns with fall protection relating to workers and informed Occupational Health and Safety. A stop work order was placed on the maintenance work being completed, not on the rollercoaster itself.
“A stop work order (which covers working at heights) has been put in place until the employer puts a proper fall protection plan in place for the remainder of the maintenance work,” said Chrissy Matheson, a communications representative with the department of Labour and Advanced Education, in an Aug. 2 email.
“Once the employer has a safe means of fall protection in place they will contact the department and we will re-inspect. If we are satisfied, the order will be lifted,” said Matheson.
The Tree Topper is a wooden rollercoaster built in 1989 by William Cobb and has a top speed of about 55 km/h. It is a popular attraction at Upper Clements.
The park has been posting daily updates on the status of the ride on its Facebook page.
When contacted by the Tricounty Vanguard, Upper Clements Parks staff chose not to comment further on the issue, referring the newspaper instead to a posted online statement from days earlier.
On July 24 the chairman of the volunteer board of directors, David Brown, put a posting on the Upper Clements Parks Facebook page and website explaining the closure of the ride.
“As chair of the volunteer board of directors of the Upper Clements Parks Society I have decided to write to you, our visitors, and update you as to why the rollercoaster is still down for maintenance. I know there has been a lot of comments and disappointment (about) why this ride is not in operation. Please believe me, our board and staff are also very disappointed.
“During early June, while our maintenance staff were working on the coaster, we had an inspection by the provincial Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) officer, which subsequently resulted in a stop work order on any maintenance on this ride. The order related to the safety mechanism that our staff used to tie into with their safety harnesses along the top of the coaster.
“Since then we have tried to establish exactly what was required and have suggested various mechanisms, which have to be engineer approved.”
Brown said the park had been given approval from OHS to install a 3,000-foot cable along this walkway to hopefully solve the problem.
“When that is done, it will be inspected by the OHS officer and again, hopefully approval will allow us to finish the maintenance on the coaster and get it in operation for you, our visitors.
“Again, we are very sorry that you have not been able to ride the coaster, but I should note that we have a number of other rides and attractions and as earlier noted by our staff, the Ryerson Rush Zipline is now included in your rides bracelet. Thank you for your patience,” Brown wrote in the post.
Last week the park also posted a notice on its Facebook page that the park’s train was temporarily down for maintenance due to hydraulic pump repairs.
Some of the other rides and attractions offered at the park includes the carousel, pedal boats, mini-golf, antique autos, bumper cars, bumper boats, wading pools, a ferries wheel, climbing towers and the Sissiboo Sizzler Flume Ride. A fill list of rides is on its website.
In addition to the Ryerson Rush Zipline now being included in ride bracelets at the park, for the month of August the park is also offering visitors free camping for a night when an amusement park bracelet is purchased, as well when an amusement park and adventure park all-inclusive bracelet is purchased or a full adventure pass course ticket.