Air compressors at Gold Coast attraction did not meet safety standards, regulator told four years ago, amid questions about maintenance at the park

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Air compressors on 13 Dreamworld rides, including the rapids ride, were deemed “not fit for service” in an inspection four years ago, according to documents released by Queensland’s workplace regulator.

The death of four people on Tuesday afternoon on the Thunder River Rapids ride has sparked an immediate coronial investigation and an inquiry by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland.

It has also raised questions about Dreamworld’s maintenance of rides throughout the theme park. Late on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Dreamworld’s public relations company said a complete safety audit had been undertaken for the Rapids ride on 26 September.

However, the Queensland secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union, Ben Swan, said there had been concerns raised over the past 18 months about maintenance at the park.

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He told Guardian Australia that there had been a number of operational and maintenance issues raised about rides at Dreamworld “from a very general point of view”.

A series of documents obtained by the AWU in 2015 and released by the Queensland Office of Industrial Relations on Wednesday set out a number of complaints, some of which sparked inspections at the park.

In November 2012 an inspector for Australian In-Service Inspection Pty Ltd examined “air receivers” on 13 rides.

Air receivers are part of air compression systems that help to store compressed air. These types of systems can be used on amusement rides to propel rides along at speed, for instance as part of a rollercoaster.

A factsheet published by Safe Work Australia said they can “explode and cause serious injuries or death if they are not adequately inspected and maintained, or if they have been operated above the design pressure”.

In an email to Workplace Health and Safety he said: “I issued corrective actions for all of the vessels examined and declared all of the vessels not fit for service, including the requirement for registration of the plant with QLD Workplace Health and Safety.”

He said Dreamworld’s engineer had told him they were exempt from registration requirements because they were part of the amusement park.

“The engineering department at Dreamworld did not produce any evidence of having a quality management system in place or any previous vessel inspection reports.”

The company declined to correspond with the inspector any further, according to the email. The inspector wrote to the workplace regulator: “This leaves me with no option but to request your mediation to resolve the outstanding corrective actions to assist in closing out my reports.”

The Queensland workplace regulator allocated an inspector to the case, who said the state government had determined it didn’t want to “double dip” on licences for the air compressors – and that 13 separate ones were not required for the rides. It is unclear what action the regulator required for the other issues identified.

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The documents also reveal that the owner of Dreamworld, Ardent Leisure Limited, challenged the disclosure of the documents to the AWU. The case went on appeal to the Queensland information commissioner, who rejected the arguments put forward by Dreamworld’s owner and said access “may not be refused to any of the information in issue”.

In another complaint in October 2012 an anonymous author lodged a written complaint with the regulator that said: “Several rides and water slides are in dire need of fixing, rust visible and falling into pools and major leaks, cracks, chips on slides.”

“Tape is used to cover rides, Queensland licence stickers out of date at rides”.

On Wednesday, a media statement supplied through Dreamworld’s PR company from DRA Safety Specialists said: “Dreamworld under the leadership of Craig Davidson, the CEO has demonstrated a commitment to developing and maintaining a strong safety culture across all departments.

“Annual audits have resulted in continuous improvement in the management of safety. A number of consultancy visits to assist in the implementation have been undertaken and have included regular training programs with the senior leadership team which have kept them abreast of legislative requirements and changes.”