Amusement park injuries rarely due to mechanical error: experts

People go upside down as they ride a roller-coaster at the Nanchang Wanda Park theme park at the Wanda Cultural Tourism City in Nanchang in southeastern China's Jiangxi province, Saturday, May 28, 2016. (AP / Mark Schiefelbein)

A series of recent accidents at U.S. amusement parks, including one that was fatal, is shining the spotlight on ride attractions safety north of the border, but experts say the vast majority of reported incidents are minor, and are often the result of rider behaviour.

The U.S. has been dealing with a series of tragic incidents involving amusement park attractions in recent weeks. In early August, three girls suffered injuries after falling from a Ferris wheel at a county fair in Tennessee. On Aug. 8, a 10-year-old boy was killed on the 51-metre-tall Verruckt raft ride – billed as the world’s tallest water slide -- at the Schlitterbahn Kansas City WaterPark. A source told The Associated Press that the boy was decapitated in the incident.

Then on Aug. 11, another boy was injured after falling from a wooden roller-coaster at an amusement park in Pennsylvania.

The circumstances of each incident are being investigated, but they have sparked concerns over ride safety.

But Canadian experts say roller-coaster ride incidents are rarely the result of mechanical error.

Kathryn Woodcock, an engineering professor at Ryerson University, studies ergonomics and human interaction with amusement rides. She says attractions that comply with safety regulations “will be safe for the vast majority of riders who do not have medical susceptibility, fit the restraint device adequately, and remain properly seated.”

Riders taking risks

Woodcock told CTVNews.ca there are people who think they can make the ride “even more exciting by rising up or standing, to feel ‘air time’ (weightlessness), or raising their arms.

“They are not substantially increasing the thrill but they are increasing the risk of slipping out of the restraint or dislocating their shoulder or sustaining a strain because they were not bracing for acceleration/deceleration.”

Woodcock says older rides were safe “for decades” but are becoming “unsafe because riders are interacting with the technology differently.

“Many old wooden roller-coasters do not need a restraint device for physics alone,” Woodcock said, adding “in this era of extreme sports and personalized, interactive entertainment, too many riders are not content to ride the ride as it was designed, and instead try to customize their experience.

“But their actions violate the designer’s assumptions about what position the rider’s body will be in.”

Extra restraints are often added, to the disappointment of ride enthusiasts, she said.

The Technical Safety and Standards Authority, which regulates all amusement rides in Ontario, has found that 94 per cent of incidents are related to rider behaviour.

“It’s not the ride that’s failing,” said Roger Neate, TSSA’s director of elevating and amusement devices. “It’s the people choosing to do something incorrectly.

“Nobody goes on rides and says, ‘Hey, I’m going to hurt myself,’ Neate told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview. “It’s never their intent, but they sometimes choose to do something not knowing what the consequences might be.”

According to a TSSA safety report, amusement ride injury occurrences have increased from 213 in 2012 to 556 in 2015, with the vast majority being minor in nature, Neate said. Of the 556 injury occurrences last year, 22 were reported as permanent.

But Neate attributes the spike in incidents to more reporting by ride operators and attendants than in previous years. “It’s not that things suddenly got dangerous, we’ve got a bunch of people saying, ‘We get it, we have to report,’” he said.

A critical part of ride safety is the presence of trained ride attendants, but also ensuring riders follow the ride instructions.

“If you have to be a certain height or size, there’s a reason for that,” Neate said. “It’s because that’s the size you need to be to be able to fit in the restraints."

Age and maturity levels must also be considered, Neate advised.

“Have you reached an age where you’ll understand the consequences of standing on a ride while it’s moving?” he said. “When they’re too young, they don’t know that. They act on impulse.”

Neate says it’s critical that parents or guardians of children who are planning to ride the attractions read the instructions that are posted at the ride and ensure that everyone conduct themselves accordingly.

Neate said the TSSA has one of the most “robust” systems in North America to ensure that all rides operating in Ontario are safe. However, each province is responsible for regulating the rides separately.

Woodcock says Canada has had ride design standards for decades, adopted as requirements by provincial regulators.

But she says some jurisdictions around the world have not adopted international ride design standards. Some even have no licensure requirement.

“The public needs to do a little bit too much work to know the protections in effect where they are,” she said.