I did my job well
DREAMWORLD INQUEST Ride trainer defends lead up to park tragedy
THE woman who trained the Thunder River Rapids Ride operator the morning of the Dreamworld disaster made sure the attendant knew what the emergency button did, the inquest has heard.
However, trainer Amy Crisp also admitted she held back information from trainees so she did not “overwhelm” or “scare off” new employees.
Ms Crisp trained Courtney Williams for 90 minutes on how to operate the Thunder River Rapids Ride just hours before the disaster on October 25, 2016.
Ms Williams last week told the inquest at the Southport Coroner’s Court she was told “don’t worry about that (emergency) button, no one uses it”.
It was also unclear if the ride’s other operator, Peter Nemeth, stopped the conveyor, despite his evidence he hit the button three or four times.
The fatal incident occurred after a pump stopped working on the ride, causing water levels to drop and a raft to become stuck on the conveyor belt.
That raft was hit by another carrying Luke Dorsett, his sister Kate Goodchild, her daughter Ebony, 12, Roozbeh Araghi, Cindy Low and her son, Kieran, 10. The raft flipped and the four adults were killed.
The inquest was yesterday shown a video of a walkthrough Ms Crisp did with police five days after the tragedy, showing how she trained Ms Williams on the ride.
In the video, Ms Crisp said she pointed the button out to Ms Williams by saying the other ride operator’s bottle was on it.
“I said if you hit that, it’s going to stop the conveyor and your pump,” Ms Crisp said to police.
The trainer said later in the morning she took Ms Williams through a memo about the button. Ms Crisp said she asked Ms Williams if she had any questions about the button. She said Ms Williams said she had no questions.
Ms Crisp said she also explained the button would be pressed in an emergency such as if the other operator or someone fell in the water or someone stood up while a raft was on the conveyor belt.
The video also showed Ms Crisp saying she delayed telling Ms Williams about the shut down procedure for the ride.
“We didn’t go over shut down yet,” Ms Crisp said to police. “She didn’t need to know it yet and I knew she was a bit overwhelmed.”
Ms Crisp said she went through the shut down procedure later and Ms Williams appeared to understand.
Ms Crisp said she only spoke briefly about dropping water levels, which was one of the main issues which led to the raft flipping. “We only touched on it quickly but she understood it.”
Ms Crisp told police in October 2016 she was confident in how she trained Ms Williams.
“I know I trained her in this procedure and I trained her well. (After the incident) all I thought was I’m so sorry she had to be here …”
Ms Crisp said “not once” did Ms Williams question her training.
The inquest also heard Ms Williams had been apprehensive about learning the ride as other operators had “teased” her about how “sore” she would be after a day on the rapids.
The inquest will continue this morning where Ms Crisp will continue to give evidence.