Dreamworld suing engineer who certified fatal Thunder River Rapids ride

Dreamworld’s owners are suing the engineer who certified the Thunder River Rapids ride as safe just a day before the disaster that claimed four lives, blaming him for the tragedy and the fact they had to pay staff more than $5m in compensation, according to court documents.

Dreamworld’s owners have taken legal action against the engineer who certified the Thunder River Rapids ride as safe just a day before the disaster which claimed the lives of four tourists.

Ardent Leisure, which owns the Gold Coast theme park, has blamed engineer Tom Polley for the October 2016 tragedy and the fact it had to pay staff more than $5m in compensation, according to court documents.

The company has launched Supreme Court action against Mr Polley and his company Danski Pty Ltd, seeking damages for negligence and breach of contract. The claim reveals 15 affected Dreamworld staff received payouts of between $110,000 and $700,000 each.

The Thunder River Rapids was the scene of a horror incident that claimed the lives of four people in 2016. Picture Glenn Hampson

Mr Polley and Danski are defending the claim, alleging Ardent had “consistently failed to carry out its obligations under the Workplace Health and Safety Act” and was itself responsible for the disaster.

In its claim, Ardent says Danski was contracted in August 2016 to give the ride its annual inspection for Workplace Health and Safety registration.

Court documents allege that on October 24, 2016 – a day before the fatal accident – Mr Polley provided a certificate stating that the Thunder River Rapids ride was “mechanically and structurally safe” provided one fault was fixed.

But the following day, a pump on the ride failed, the water level plunged and two rafts collided – one of them flipping and tipping patrons onto the conveyor belt.

Canberra tourists Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke, his partner Roozbeh Araghi and NSW woman Cindy Low died in the tragedy.

Engineer Thomas Polley. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

Ardent claims that Mr Polley provided an inspection certificate stating that the Thunder River Rapids ride was mechanically and structurally safe to operate “when it was not”. The claim alleges that the engineer failed to identify safety issues including the absence of a water level detection system that would see the conveyor automatically shut down in the event of a pump failure.

In their defence, Danski and Mr Polley state that Ardent had pleaded guilty to breaching the Workplace Health and Safety Act by failing to provide and maintain safe plant, safe systems of work and staff training. Danski and Mr Polley said they were told by Dreamworld in August 2016 the inspection was needed to maintain registration “when in fact the Thunder River Rapids ride was not registered at all” between about January 2016 and January 2017.

The Board of Professional Engineers has been asked to hand over all records relating to Mr Polley since 2013 as part of the legal action. In inquest findings handed down last year, Coroner James McDougall recommended that Mr Polley be referred to the Board.

Ardent was fined $3.6m last year for Workplace Health and Safety breaches.