Dreamworld tragedy: dossier of safety concerns blocked

Dreamworld owner Ardent Leis­ure fought for more than a year to block the release of a dossier of ride safety concerns.

AWU Queensland secretary Ben Swan said it was the union’s duty to fight for safety for workers and the public. Picture: Tara Croser

Dreamworld owner Ardent Leis­ure fought for more than a year to block the release of a dossier of ride safety concerns, including an internal investigation revealing “misunderstanding and uncertainty” after a rollercoaster stalled.

For 16 months the company battled a Right to Information ­request by the Australian Workers Union, which represents ride operators, in an attempt to stymie the release of more than 140 pages of government documents.

Ardent Leisure particularly ­objected to the release of a confid­ential “incident and investigation” report into the stalling of the Cyclone ride, which came to an un­expected stop when packed with patrons on August 14, 2012.

The report, marked “private and confidential” and provided to the regulator, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, reveals a Dreamworld employee told passengers an evacuation might be required. Some riders took off their secondary restraints, a back-up seatbelt that connects to the main safety harness, and some became “quite anxious” and asked to disembark. At the same time, an electrician and maintenance staffers came to help, and flipped the ride into maintenance mode.

One tradesman reset a “variable speed drive”, which unexpect­edly started the ride again, while some riders still had their secondary restraints undone.

“Ultimately, no guests or staff were injured during the incident,” the report reads. However, it noted there were communication issues and “clearly, misunderstanding and uncertainty existed”.

The AWU originally lodged the RTI request — for ride-related safety concerns at Dreamworld, and regulator responses — in April last year. After it was ­opposed by Dreamworld and the Queensland Department of Justice and Attor­ney-General, the union appealed to the state’s Information Commissioner.

Ardent Leisure claimed the AWU’s motivation for lodging the request was “political leverage” during enterprise bargaining nego­tiations. However, the Information Commissioner ruled it was in the public interest to release the detailed safety incidents, which had been “proactively resolved”.

“I find that disclosure will serve a dual purpose of revealing measures relating to public safety and creating a safe and informed marketplace,” the July ruling states.

Yesterday, Ardent Leisure stated that it had a “strong, open and transparent working relationship with the regulator” and said park safety was its priority. It also questioned the “timing” of renewed criticism by the union of the company’s culture following this week’s deaths.

However, AWU state secretary Ben Swan said it was the union’s duty to fight for safety for workers and the public, pointing out that the union had requested the information through the ­correct channels last year. “Raising these things are not a triviality, and are not political; these are very real issues and Tuesday’s fatalities show why unions are paranoid about safety,” Mr Swan said.

More than 140 pages were ­released to the media by WHSQ on Wednesday. The department said it was confident it had handled the AWU’s safety concerns about Dreamworld appropriately.

“WHSQ investigated these matters and worked with Dreamworld to resolve all safety issues to ensure that the public was protected,” a WHSQ spokeswoman said.

“The concerns raised by the AWU did not relate to the ­Thunder River Rapids Ride.”