Dreamworld’s parent company Ardent Leisure accused of safety failures during Tailspin maintenance

Dreamworld park operators have been accused of a new safety failures after an incident almost two years ago. Find out what happened.

Dreamworld park operators have been accused of failing to make sure workers knew correct maintenance procedures before working on a ride and also had a maintenance manual.

Ardent Leisure, who operate Dreamworld, have been charged with failure to comply with work health and safety duty.

The charges related to an alleged incident on February 23, 2021 when workers were performing maintenance on the Tailspin ride by taking down six of its 12 gondolas.

The Tailspin ride in action at Dreamworld. Picture: Supplied

The Work Health and Safety Prosecutor laid a complaint in November, first heard at Southport Magistrates Court on Monday.

The Tailspin has a big boom arm, which spins riders in a separate plane like gondolas at significant height.

Each gondola is shaped like a plane and can hold one person.

It has been in operation at Dreamworld since 2014.

Dreamworld’s parent company has been accused for workplace health and safety failures over maintenance of the Tailspin. Picture Glenn Hampson

Southport Magistrates Court documents say it is alleged the company failed to ensure:

* workers had a copy of the manufacturer’s maintenance instructions prior to the work;

* the ride’s movable arm was secured to anchor points and base plates;

* workers were instructed in the safe way to perform the maintenance in line with the manufacturer’s instructions;

* workers were prohibited from starting the task until appropriate measures were in place.

The court documents said Ardent Leisure “should have eliminated or minimised the risk as far as it was reasonably practical”.

“The disassembly task was hazardous in that it passed a risk to the workers, namely injuries and/or injuries from falling objects, if the arm lifted or otherwise moved uncontrolled,” the court documents said.

The alleged incident happened during the maintenance of the Tailspin ride.

The court documents do not say if anyone was injured.

Ardent Leisure’ representatives appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on Monday. The matter was adjourned to February 13.

A spokeswoman for Dreamworld said: “Ardent Leisure Ltd, owner and operator of Dreamworld acknowledges that Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has filed a complaint against it in relation to an event that occurred during scheduled maintenance work on the Tailspin attraction in February 2021 when it was closed to guests.

“Nobody was injured as a result of the event and Ardent is proactively engaging with the

regulator to address the matter.

“The safety of our staff is as critical to Dreamworld as the safety of our guests, and we work hard to continually improve our processes around both.

“On 31 August last year Ardent was issued with the first Major Amusement Park Licences in Queensland under the State’s new licensing regime after demonstrating a robust safety case for the management of health and safety at both its Dreamworld and Whitewater World theme parks.”

It is not the first time Ardent Leisure and Dreamworld have been scrutinised over the Work Health and Safety Act.

In September 2020, Ardent Leisure was fined $3.6 million after pleading guilty under the Work Health and Safety Act for failing to comply with its health and safety duty “and exposing individuals to a risk of serious injury or death”.

That was over the Thunder River Rapids Ride tragedy which killed four. Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low died when a pump stopped working on the water ride for the third time just after 2pm on October 23, 2016.

Roozi Araghi, Cindy Low, Luke Dorsett and Kate Goodchild died in the Thunder River Rapids Ride tragedy. Picture: Supplied

At the time Magistrate Pamela Dowse found there were steps Ardent Leisure could have taken to lessen and minimise the risk of injury or death.

“The steps were not that complex or burdensome and only were mildly inconvenient or really were inexpensive,” she said.

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