Mod 5.3 Scholarly Research
Riding a Roller coaster or other similar ride Is extremely safe, however, accidents still happen, according to Global Incidence of theme park and amusement ride accidents (2019) 75% of all theme park ride accidents are due to rider error, which can include failure to heed warnings, loose items, wearing clothing that boosts the height of the passenger, and tampering with restraints. Note that these statistics include mobile parks, as well as waterparks, which includes drownings, of the major accidents, reported for rollercoasters the types of failures that would be due to operator error would be clearance failures, which include collisions and ejections, of the reported period between 2007 and 2017 there were 3 of these accident types, 2 clearance failures and 1 ejection worldwide(Woodcock).
This is an incredibly low number, given that the sheer
number of riders going through a coaster every hour ranges into the thousands
if the line doesn’t backup too much. This begs the question how do these sorts
of accidents happen?
Complacency is a leading cause of accidents,
complacency results from individuals performing menial tasks repeatedly without
much changing, this can lead to the individual switching off mentally increasing
the chance of a mistake slipping through (McClain, 2022).
A strong way of preventing
this would be to vary tasks, this prevents the operator’s mind from switching
off and simply going through the motions. Task varying is commonly done through
a procedure known as rotation. The rotation process involves setting out a schedule
for the ride crews laying out what rides they will be operating and when. After
a set amount of time at each ride, a crew change will occur.
Here is an example, let's say there are 8 coasters at a theme
park. Each coaster requires a 2-person crew, the schedule is as follows.
Ride1-> Ride2-> Ride3-> Ride4-> Break-> Ride5->
Ride6-> Ride7-> Ride8->break
After the break after ride 8, the schedule repeats.
These rides all need crews, so simply the crew would be assigned
a starting point and transition to the next ride in the sequence, this provides
a break in the monotony, a change of scenery, and a change in procedures
depending on the coaster type.
This also provides an opportunity to change up work stress
such as assigning 2 high-concentration rides on either side of a low-concentration
ride.
The accident on the smiler was an example of this, the accident
occurred on the first train of the day with the same crew that had set it up
that morning, if the crew had rotated there would have been an opportunity for
fresh eyes to detect the valleyed train before the coaster had dispatched.
McClain, C. (2022, July). Killing complacency. Professional
Safety, 67(7), 29-30.
Woodcock, K. (2019). Global incidence of theme park and
amusement ride accidents. Safety Science, 113, 171–179.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2018.11.014
The blog went more in-depth on this issue and incorporated human reliability research from reliable sources. I agree. Complacency results from people doing menial tasks repeatedly without much change, this can lead to them switching off mentally, which increases the chance of a mistake. You also discuss how your issue relates to the human reliability research you found. Your blog clearly explains how you describe the failures of your system. While roller coasters push the human body to exhilarating extremes, safety regulations and industry compliance help keep them safe. On another blog out of England, I read that the chances of getting killed on an amusement ride are 300 million to one, whereas the chances of getting killed by lightning are 10 million to one. Every year, around 1.7 billion Americans take rides, and there were just four deaths from 1994 to 2004. Lightning strikes kill 39 people a year in the US on average.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin,
ReplyDeleteExcellent work on your blog, I can see how complacency can be the issue causing accidents operating roller coasters in a theme park but in also other different workplaces. When we do the same task all day every day, as a human we start developing muscle memory and complacency begins to happen. We all have had safety briefings where an individual that has been doing the same task for 15 years was severely injured because he got complacent and did not follow the proper steps. After doing it for so long we start taking shortcuts to the same task faster and when we see that the task is been completed with fewer steps, we increase the chances of an accident happening. I like reading your blog, good luck.