Inquest into Thunder River Rapids tragedy told safety officers were not rostered on at Dreamworld on weekends
INQUEST into deaths of four people told safety officers were not rostered on at Dreamworld on weekends
Gold Coast
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SAFETY officers were not rostered on at Dreamworld on weekends, the inquest into the Thunder River Rapids Ride has heard.
Former Dreamworld safety officer Rebecca Ramsey this morning was asked about her working hours.
“There was no safety officers on weekends,” she said.
The safety officers were trained to deal with safety risks across the park including risk assessments on rides.
The inquest is examining what happened just before 2pm on October October 25, 2016, when a pump stopped working on the Thunder River Rapids 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 four adults were killed. The children escaped uninjured.
Ms Ramsey, who was also on the first aid team and is a registered nurse, was one of the first on the scene at the disaster.
“When I arrived on the scene someone handed me a small child,” she said.
“I took that child out of the ride area.”
Ms Ramsey told the inquest that she returned to the scene after she found someone to care for the child.
She said she asked supervisor Sarah Cotter who many people were on the raft and was told she did not know.
Ms Ramsey said senior ride operator Peter Nemeth, who was on the controls at the time of the disaster, was standing next to Ms Cotter but did not say how many people were on the ride.
The inquest also heard Ms Ramsey did not know who the duty manager was at the scene.
Under Dreamworld policy it was the duty manager’s responsibility to take control of the scene.
Their role would include allowing access for emergency services, organising any equipment needed for a response as well as evacuating guests.
Ms Ramsey also told the inquest Dreamworld resisted holding training for staff before the park opened due to “budgetary issues” and requests were “fobbed off”.
Barrister Matthew Hickey, for Cindy Low’s family, asked: “Was there some resistance from management getting staff in for training?”
Ms Ramsey replied: “Yes.”
The inquest heard Ms Ramsey had conversations with operations manager Troy Margettes and attractions supervisor Andrew Fyfe about getting staff in for training.
She said it was a “we will wait and see conversation”.
Mr Hickey asked: “Did you feel like you were being fobbed off?”
Ms Ramsey replied: “Sometimes.”
Earlier today first aid officer Ben Hicks told the inquest he knew about 50 different training scenario sessions which had been conducted at Dreamworld “recently”.
It was also revealed this morning that Dreamworld produced more than 1000 documents detailing thousands of pages to the inquest into the Thunder River Rapids Ride on Monday.
Counsel assisting the coroner Ken Fleming told the Coroner’s Court of Queensland at Southport this morning there was difficulty processing the 1094 documents which “consist of thousands of pages”.
Mr Fleming said the efforts were hampered after a power outage at the Southport Courthouse this morning caused them to lose a lot of work from overnight.
Barrister Steven Whybrow, acting for the partner of Kate Goodchild, David Turner, and father of Ms Goodchild and Luke Dorsett, Shane Goodchild, said there was concern about the documents, particularly because only two documents relating to a 2014 incident on the ride had been disclosed.
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“The lack of any documentation following some incidents is of great concern to my clients,” Mr Whybrow said.
“One way or other it’s time to clarify whether there are any other documents or not.”
Mr Whybrow said he was particularly concerned as Dreamworld attractions supervisor Andrew Fyfe was set to give evidence this week.
Mr Fyfe had promised in an email to investigate the 2014 incident.
Barrister for Ardent Leisure Bruce Hodgkinson said there was difficulties due to the volume of documents Dreamworld had.
“We have had four people full-time going through materials. There are 600,000 emails,” he said.
Concerns were also raised that some documents referred to attachments but the attachments had not been produced.
Coroner James McDougall said it was “not a simple task”.
It was agreed Mr Fyfe’s evidence would be delayed until the end of next week while the documents were processed.
The inquest also heard this morning that the emergency response to the Thunder River Rapids Ride disaster would have been quicker if the ride’s alarm was sounded by the ride operator.
Dreamworld registered nurse and safety officer Rebecca Ramsey was asked if there was anything that could have done to improve the response.
“I feel that if the alarm had have been sounded by the operator then we may have had a more wider response, then more people would have been there sooner,” Ms Ramsey said.
“There was a bit of a delay between the code 222 blue and the code 222 grey... even though it was pretty quickly... I just think pushing the alarm would have had a more rapid response.”
Ms Ramsey was one of the first of the medical team on the scene that day.
She is one of a group of Dreamworld employees suing for psychological trauma following the disaster.
Earlier, the counsel assisting the coroner in the Dreamworld inquest Ken Fleming has apologised to the lawyers who are launching a compensation claim on behalf of former Dreamworld staff.
Mr Fleming earlier this week told the inquest releasing the names of employees who were making compensation claims was “opportunistic” by personal injury solicitors Shine Lawyers.
The claims will be asking for compensation for the psychological trauma the employees suffered as a result of the incident.
None of the former Dreamworld employees involved in the claim were aware their names were released until they appeared in articles.
Mr Fleming said outside the inquest this morning his intention was to ensure the inquest into the Thunder River Rapids Ride was focused on the victims, their relatives, the Dreamworld employees and Ardent Leisure and not about a common law procedure.
“It’s entirely inappropriate to confuse this procedure with a common law procedure and it’s entirely inappropriate in respect of this procedure,” he said.
“This must stand alone.”
Asked about the timing of the release of the information from Shine Lawyers, Mr Fleming said: “It would have better if it wasn’t released.”
He apologised to the law firm.
“In so far as any imputation with Shine Lawyer that they have acted inappropriately and unprofessionally, I unreservedly withdraw those and unreservedly apologise for those,” he said.
Mr Fleming said Shine Lawyers had a responsibility to their clients and the courts.
He said it was their judgment that was important in the matter.
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