Ian Stewart ‘stunned’ park did not change to automatic control systems after earlier incidents on Thunder River Rapids ride

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A workplace health and safety inspector has identified a “litany of safety concerns” about the Thunder River Rapids ride that claimed four lives in the Dreamworld tragedy.

Inspector Ian Stewart, who spent 10 days inspecting the ride after the October 2016 incident, told an inquest on Monday that the ride was “poorly maintained” and severely understaffed.

Stewart said two operators were insufficient and “at least three or four people” were needed for the attraction to operate safely.

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He identified dozens more serious safety concerns during his inspection. He said the ride was “quite deteriorated” due to corrosion, with parts of the infrastructure propped up with “bits of timber”.

The inquest has previously heard safety was compromised because ride operators had to perform more than a dozen tasks in the space of a single minute.

“That’s a lot of tasks to monitor and respond to any emergency situation,” Stewart said.

He told coroner James McDougall he was “stunned” to learn Dreamworld had not changed to automatic control systems after earlier incidents on the same ride. He believed automatic engineering controls could have prevented the incident, which killed Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi after a water pump malfunction.

“I was stunned that they continued to use administrative controls,” he said. “You need to move on to engineering controls. Either that or do not use the ride.”

Stewart said the risk of the conveyor belt continuing to drive after a raft collision was “so high” it needed engineering controls to prevent it happening.

In his report, Stewart said the causes of the accident included the reliance on administrative controls, the limitations of emergency controls systems and procedures, monitoring and prevention of rafts collision in the unloading area, water level monitoring and the gap at the end of the conveyor.

Previously, a safety report found the Thunder River Rapids ride was unsafe and there had been “little learning” from previous incidents.