NEWS
Dreamworld parent company pleads guilty to ‘avoidable’ fatal accident
D
reamworld’s parent company, Ardent Leisure, has pled guilty to failing to comply with its health and safety duty in the 2016 accident where a pump failure proved fatal for four people. The independent Work Health and Safety Prosecutor, Aaron Guilfoyle, brought charges against Ardent Leisure on Wednesday 21 July 2020. Mr Guilfoyle charged Ardent Leisure with three charges under s.32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, for failing to comply with its health and safety duty under the Act and exposing individuals to a risk of serious injury or death. It was alleged that Ardent Leisure failed to ensure: • The provision and maintenance of safe plant and structures • Provision and maintenance of safe systems of work • The provision of information, training, instruction or supervision that was necessary to protect all persons from risks to their health and safety arising from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking
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pump industry | Spring 2020 | Issue 33
Ardent Leisure has announced it will plead guilty to all three charges, which bear a maximum penalty of $4.5 million. The matter has been scheduled for a hearing on 28 September 2020. Coroner James McDougall delivered his 274-page inquest findings to the Brisbane Magistrates Court on 24 February 2020, which revealed that there was a “total” and “systemic failure by Dreamworld to ensure all aspects of safety”. Mr McDougall found that unregulated “ad hoc” modifications to the Thunder River Rapids ride had not been properly assessed for safety by a qualified engineer. In fact, it was determined that the ride had not received any such assessment since its opening in 1986. It was also found during the inquest that managers at Dreamworld had ignored previous incidents where there had been problems on the ride, including serious incidents where rafts had also flipped in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2014.
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