Four killed after malfunction on a ride in Dreamworld, Queensland Australia. - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Four people have died in an accident on the Thunder Rivers Rapids family ride at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. Two men and two women aged from 32 through to their early 40s were killed when the theme park ride malfunctioned this afternoon, Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman Gavin Fuller said. "One of the rides had sustained some sort of malfunction causing two people to be ejected from the ride," he said. [/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/10/25/15/48/reports-of-at-least-one-dead-in-serious-dreamworld-ride-accident"]Source[/URL]

Thats my worst nightmare, being flipped off and eaten by the conveyorbelt

[QUOTE=Tasm;51257144]conveyorbelt[/QUOTE] [img]http://i.imgur.com/wFSCTzw.png[/img] jesus christ who approved an uncovered conveyor like that

[QUOTE=dai;51257152][img]http://i.imgur.com/wFSCTzw.png[/img] jesus christ who approved an uncovered this conveyor like that[/QUOTE] 30 years ago, dunno

[QUOTE=dai;51257152][img]http://i.imgur.com/wFSCTzw.png[/img] jesus christ who approved an uncovered this conveyor like that[/QUOTE] IIRC it's the oldest ride in the park, 30+ years old, probably never been updated since it was "fine"

Personally I'm horrified by that. It's like something out of those shitty Final Destination films

I kinda wanna know what the maintenance log was saying honestly. A ride that old should of been under strict inspection

Lack of maintenence as expected, a few rides in a small family park where closed here as well, deemed extremely unsafe.

That's so awful. Feel really bad for the families involved.

Reading horrifying stuff like this is why I tend to dislike theme park rides.

[QUOTE=kaze4159;51257173]IIRC it's the oldest ride in the park, 30+ years old, probably never been updated since it was "fine"[/QUOTE] coming from experience (my dad worked 30 years at Six Flags Great America, 25 of which as a supervisor for the maintenance and engineering crews [yay 'my dad works at X' references]) nothing is EVER fine to just leave for more than a few years (or even 6 months), especially as safety codes get updated. BUT, also knowing how SF:GA got treated by some of its more recent owners (if anyone remembers the 'giant drop rips girl's feet right the fuck off' incident a few years back, was due to buying shoddy third party cables AND not replacing them in [3?] years instead of the 6 month intervals prior), guidelines can often get ignored by corporate pennypinchers when a thing isn't [I]directly[/I] mentioned as needing continual maintenance and sensible updates

[QUOTE=kaze4159;51257173]IIRC it's the oldest ride in the park, 30+ years old, probably never been updated since it was "fine"[/QUOTE] How did it pass safety inspections?

[QUOTE=rndgenerator;51257286]How did it pass safety inspections?[/QUOTE] Because it's an older ride and it meets the standards that it was built for, it's like saying why doesn't a car from the 1920's have crumple zones or airbags?

[QUOTE=Sims_doc;51257288]Because it's an older ride and it meets the standards that it was built for, it's like saying why doesn't a car from the 1920's have crumple zones or airbags?[/QUOTE] I'm not quite seeing the analogy here.

[QUOTE=Sims_doc;51257288]Because it's an older ride and it meets the standards that it was built for, it's like saying why doesn't a car from the 1920's have crumple zones or airbags?[/QUOTE] That's not how standards work. Being built before a certain time does not make something immune to modern safety standards. Your analogy also doesn't even make any sense.

[QUOTE=Sims_doc;51257288]Because it's an older ride and it meets the standards that it was built for, it's like saying why doesn't a car from the 1920's have crumple zones or airbags?[/QUOTE] What. To take your wonderful argument as example, that 1920's car should have been refitted with airbags or extra safety features to meet today's standard of safety regulations especially if you let other people drive it while you are still responsible if any harm comes to them

[QUOTE=darth-veger;51257312]What. To take your wonderful argument as example, that 1920's car should have been refitted with airbags or extra safety features to meet today's standard of safety regulations especially if you let other people drive it while you are still responsible if any harm comes to them[/QUOTE] Cars are not theme rides, the laws are different. Consumers are expected to be able to gauge the safety of a car by themselves. For industrial machines, buildings and theme rides, an average consumer cannot gauge the safety of the machine. So laws make sure they dont have to. I am an engineer making Industrial machines. The company's that use our machines are required to keep their machines safe and certified according to the latest standards. Which requires us to update or scrap 50 year old machines to comply with current safety requirements. For example: A recent trend is that all plastics that come into contact with food need to have an FDA and ECG 1935 Certification. Our clients can either update their machines to FDA compliant plastics or face fines/closure. [editline]25th October 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=dai;51257152][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wFSCTzw.png[/IMG] jesus christ who approved an uncovered conveyor like that[/QUOTE] And how the hell has nobody noticed this obvious deathtrap until now. [media]https://youtu.be/IU95jNx6jf8?t=225[/media] Conveyor at 3:45

[QUOTE=sannys;51257298]That's not how standards work. Being built before a certain time does not make something immune to modern safety standards. Your analogy also doesn't even make any sense.[/QUOTE] apparently it does for rides in theme parks

[QUOTE=Octopod;51257386]apparently it does for rides in theme parks[/QUOTE] no. no it doesn't.

[QUOTE=sannys;51257298]That's not how standards work. Being built before a certain time does not make something immune to modern safety standards. Your analogy also doesn't even make any sense.[/QUOTE] First off, yes, it does. If it didn't we wouldn't have any kind of vintage car culture or even old appliances laying around, because they'd be illegal, because they're kind of impossible to update to modern safety standards. [QUOTE=darth-veger;51257312]What. To take your wonderful argument as example, that 1920's car should have been refitted with airbags or extra safety features to meet today's standard of safety regulations especially if you let other people drive it while you are still responsible if any harm comes to them[/QUOTE] Even if it was possible to magically refit a primitive body on frame steel-bodied automobile with crumple zones and airbags, they wouldn't help in a crash because the car wasn't designed for them. Even seatbelts in those cars make you more likely to die in a crash, not less. That said, theme park rides aren't vintage cars, and a ride with such blatant safety concerns shouldn't be left to operate until it kills 4 people.

[QUOTE=rndgenerator;51257286]How did it pass safety inspections?[/QUOTE] im going to assume they didnt care much about the new regulations on old rides which means any older rides will need maintenance before they reopen the park ive been on this ride years ago with my family, you weren't freaked out by the conveyor belts because we all thought that was normal we had trust in the park to service the machines, its unfortunate that 4 people also felt safe and then died on what was supposed to be a fun ride

[QUOTE=sannys;51257298]That's not how standards work. Being built before a certain time does not make something immune to modern safety standards. Your analogy also doesn't even make any sense.[/QUOTE] That's incorrect as it varies by the nation in which you are asking the question. The car analogy is fine when it's applied to vehicles in a place like the US because of the heavy use of the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clause"]Grandfather clause[/URL] for older vehicles. As a general rule, if the vehicle is grandfathered you are not legally required to install or modify the vehicle with modern safety and/or emission equipment. It need only meet the standards of the time in which it was built. With exceptions, most any normal vehicle from the early 70s and down is going to be grandfathered in one way or another. Usually the older the vehicle the more aspects of it are grandfathered. Exceptionally old vehicles can almost be death coffins on wheels because they're grandfathered to such an extreme degree in order to preserve the historical culture of the car. My own car is not legally required to have airbags and I will never need to take a smog test with it because it's grandfathered on both accounts.

[QUOTE=darth-veger;51257312]What. To take your wonderful argument as example, that 1920's car should have been refitted with airbags or extra safety features to meet today's standard of safety regulations especially if you let other people drive it while you are still responsible if any harm comes to them[/QUOTE] In Queensland, Australia, if I remember correctly; vehicles manufactured before 1/1/69 do not need to have seat belts unless they have already been fitted.

[QUOTE=Axznma;51257943]That's incorrect as it varies by the nation in which you are asking the question. The car analogy is fine when it's applied to vehicles in a place like the US because of the heavy use of the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clause"]Grandfather clause[/URL] for older vehicles. As a general rule, if the vehicle is grandfathered you are not legally required to install or modify the vehicle with modern safety and/or emission equipment. It need only meet the standards of the time in which it was built. With exceptions, most any normal vehicle from the early 70s and down is going to be grandfathered in one way or another. Usually the older the vehicle the more aspects of it are grandfathered. Exceptionally old vehicles can almost be death coffins on wheels because they're grandfathered to such an extreme degree in order to preserve the historical culture of the car. My own car is not legally required to have airbags and I will never need to take a smog test with it because it's grandfathered on both accounts.[/QUOTE] It works the same in Australia, but I think they're a little harsher. In the US you can take a pile of rusty parts from 1932 and if it moves on the road you're good to go, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMRJtNbuxHU]literally[/url]. Australia might have regulations about structural integrity and so forth that we don't.

[QUOTE=Grenadiac;51257956]It works the same in Australia, but I think they're a little harsher. In the US you can take a pile of rusty parts from 1932 and if it moves on the road you're good to go, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMRJtNbuxHU]literally[/url]. Australia might have regulations about structural integrity and so forth that we don't.[/QUOTE] differs state by state but the general consensus is, is that it has to be safe for customers to use and if it isn't, it isn't used older rides/things have stricter maintenance but are usually not updated with newer codes unless it's deadset required for example, older trains here were retrofitted with display boards and disability stuff that is required nowadays but they do not come with free wifi or other equipment you'll find on newer trains this ride should of been updated, but it wasn't required

[QUOTE=taipan;51257370]Cars are not theme rides, the laws are different. Consumers are expected to be able to gauge the safety of a car by themselves. For industrial machines, buildings and theme rides, an average consumer cannot gauge the safety of the machine. So laws make sure they dont have to. I am an engineer making Industrial machines. The company's that use our machines are required to keep their machines safe and certified according to the latest standards. Which requires us to update or scrap 50 year old machines to comply with current safety requirements. For example: A recent trend is that all plastics that come into contact with food need to have an FDA and ECG 1935 Certification. Our clients can either update their machines to FDA compliant plastics or face fines/closure. [editline]25th October 2016[/editline] And how the hell has nobody noticed this obvious deathtrap until now. [media]https://youtu.be/IU95jNx6jf8?t=225[/media] Conveyor at 3:45[/QUOTE] I don't think there's anything wrong with the design, it's been used for decades and this is the first time something bad has happened with it. (This type of ride is all over the place, Opryland had one even) and it looks like as the raft was approaching the conveyor the forward part somehow got pinched, causing the 'back' to come up acting as a catapult. I don't know how that could happen unless the conveyor was for some reason moving backwards. (Operator error, maybe?) Also, safety belts would have saved their lives, but strapping people into something on a water ride has its own safety risks. Opryland's didn't have safety harnesses for this exact ride if I recall

[QUOTE=sannys;51257298]That's not how standards work. Being built before a certain time does not make something immune to modern safety standards. Your analogy also doesn't even make any sense.[/QUOTE] man, what a post idk where you are from but apparently you have never seen an outdated version of anything must be nice having so many new shiny things

I just rode the ride two days ago in disneyland california adventure that is the exact type of ride, they have seat belts you put on when you get in and the conveyer belt that lifts you is all wood boards so you can't fall through with black track pads to hold the raft. The conveyer starts really low in the water so that the boat couldn't get stuck under the conveyer like what probably happened here. [media]https://youtu.be/PhyFCN2zCNQ?t=2m20s[/media] If you watch the video starting at 2:20 you can see how the lift is all enclosed and the conveyer starts deep in the water.

[QUOTE=ZachPL;51258320]I just rode the ride two days ago in disneyland california adventure that is the exact type of ride, they have seat belts you put on when you get in and the conveyer belt that lifts you is all wood boards so you can't fall through with black track pads to hold the raft. The conveyer starts really low in the water so that the boat couldn't get stuck under the conveyer like what probably happened here. [video]https://youtu.be/PhyFCN2zCNQ[/video] If you watch the video starting at 2:20 you can see how the lift is all enclosed and the conveyer starts deep in the water.[/QUOTE] I am usually visiting every theme park when i'm abroad so i had my share of wild water rides and i can safely say that 90% of all water rides with boats like that use either wood or a grate system to safely carry the boats upwards like the one in De Efteling [IMG]http://www.eftelist.nl/ovd_foto/popup/84.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=taipan;51257370]Cars are not theme rides, the laws are different. Consumers are expected to be able to gauge the safety of a car by themselves. For industrial machines, buildings and theme rides, an average consumer cannot gauge the safety of the machine. So laws make sure they dont have to. I am an engineer making Industrial machines. The company's that use our machines are required to keep their machines safe and certified according to the latest standards. Which requires us to update or scrap 50 year old machines to comply with current safety requirements. For example: A recent trend is that all plastics that come into contact with food need to have an FDA and ECG 1935 Certification. Our clients can either update their machines to FDA compliant plastics or face fines/closure. [editline]25th October 2016[/editline] And how the hell has nobody noticed this obvious deathtrap until now. [media]https://youtu.be/IU95jNx6jf8?t=225[/media] Conveyor at 3:45[/QUOTE] this is why disney has rolling conveyor belts rather than this wooden body chewer