Latest news with #carousel
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Movie World cleared of wrongdoing after child severely injured on ride
Movie World has been cleared of any wrongdoing after a 12-year-old boy suffered severe head injuries while riding the carousel. Work Health Safety Queensland (WHSQ) accused Movie World's operator, Village Roadshow Theme Parks, of failing in its duty of care after the April 2022 incident. Southport Magistrates Court heard the boy was on the Looney Tunes Carousel ride and was standing on the back of the Wile E. Coyote character, instead of sitting on it. The boy's head then went into an open hole in the ride's ceiling - where the poles move up and down as the carousel turns. His head was then pinned between the edge of the opening and the machinery which operates the movement of the poles. WHSQ told the court the boy suffered an 'ear-to-ear de-scalping injury' and several fractures. Witnesses told Daily Mail Australia at the time that they heard a loud bang before the boy fell off the ride with his hair pulled to one side, his scalp showing and blood pouring down his face. However, WHSQ has withdrawn its prosecution of Village Roadshow Theme Parks after just three days of evidence at the judge-only trial. WHSQ Barrister Clare O'Connor told the court an independent safety report given to the theme park eight months prior to the incident identified risks in the carousel ride. The report explained there was a risk of crush injury due to the ceiling openings and recommended the theme park install rigid plastic brushes on the apertures. 'Such brushes are considered best practice and are in use at carousels at Sea World and Dream World,' Ms O'Connor said. The report also found the ride complied with safety requirements and was in 'excellent operational condition'. Ms O'Connor told the court the theme park was considering installing the plastic brushes but the failure to do so had exposed riders to risk of injury and death. However, Village Roadshow Barrister Saul Holt argued the boy's behaviour and subsequent injuries were 'not reasonably foreseeable'. 'This 12-year-old boy was described by one witness as surfing the character when his head, either deliberately or inadvertently, entered the hole in the ceiling of the ride,' Mr Holt said. 'The steps the prosecution say were absent … would not have prevented this from happening.' Mr Holt said the ride was immediately shut down and was examined by engineers before it re-opened several months later. The court also heard from theme park ride safety consultant David Randall, the author of the independent review. Mr Randall explained the recommendation for plastic brushes was not a requirement for the carousel to operate. Rather, the brushes, if installed, were meant to serve as a tactile deterrent rather than using a physical barrier. He added the boy's head could still have gone through the plastic bushes and into the machinery. Even with his decades of experience, Mr Randall told the court he did not identify a person standing on a carousel character as a foreseeable risk. Movie World attraction attendant Ruby Piakura, who had operated the carousel for six months, also told the court she had never seen a rider stand on a character before the incident. On the third day of trial, Ms O'Connor asked to withdraw the case, explaining the prosecution did not have further evidence to offer the court. An application will now be made for WHSQ to pay Village Roadshow Theme Park's legal fees.
CTV News
21-05-2025
- CTV News
North Bay miniature train closed after derailment
One of the North Bay waterfront's treasured family attractions is closed after the miniature train went off its track. The derailment at Heritage Railway and Carousel Company on Memorial Drive happened Monday around 6:15 p.m., Treasurer Don Coutts told in a phone interview Wednesday morning. No passengers or volunteers were injured in the incident, Coutts said. The company is waiting for an investigator from the Technical Safety and Standards Authority (TSSA) to visit the site and look into what happened. While currently open only on weekends, the attraction, including its two classic carousels, will be closed until an investigation takes place. With files from North Bay reporter Eric Taschner
ABC News
21-05-2025
- ABC News
Movie World cleared of wrongdoing after de-scalping injury on carousel
Movie World has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a carousel accident that left a 12-year-old boy with severe head injuries. After two days of evidence at a judge-only trial in the Southport Magistrates Court, Work Health Safety Queensland (WHSQ) withdrew its prosecution of Movie World's operator, Village Roadshow Theme Parks. WHSQ had accused Village Roadshow of failing in its duty of care after the 12-year-old suffered an "ear-to-ear de-scalping injury" and several fractures on the Movie World's Looney Tunes carousel in April 2022. Magistrate Lisa O'Neil was told the boy was standing on the back of the carousel's Wile E. Coyote character, instead of sitting on it, when his head went through an open aperture in the ceiling. The court heard the boy's injuries were caused when his head was pinned between the edge of the aperture and machinery that drives the character up and down on a pole as the carousel turns. Barrister for WHSQ, Clare O'Connor, told the court an independent safety report, provided to the theme park eight months before the accident, had identified the ceiling aperture as presenting a risk of crush injury and recommended rigid plastic brushes be installed on the opening. "Such brushes are considered best practice and are in use at carousels at Sea World and Dream World," Ms O'Connor said. She said the report found the ride was compliant with safety requirements, in "excellent operational condition", and its recommendation to install plastic brushes was being considered by the theme park prior to the incident. By not installing the brushes, Village Roadshow had exposed carousel riders to a risk of injury or death, Ms O'Connor told the court. Village Roadshow's barrister, Saul Holt, told the court the boy's actions on the carousel and his resulting injuries were "not reasonably foreseeable". "This 12-year-old boy was described by one witness as surfing the character when his head, either deliberately or inadvertently, entered the hole in the ceiling of the ride," Mr Holt said. Mr Holt said the carousel was immediately shut down after the incident and underwent a "hardcore engineering solution" before it was re-opened several months later. "Once the risk was reasonably foreseeable, Village Roadshow Theme Parks made it impossible for it to occur," he said. Movie World attraction attendant Ruby Piakura, who was operating the carousel on the day of the incident, told the court she had worked on the ride for more than six months at the time. Ms Piakura said she had never seen a rider stand on a character before that day and had hit the emergency stop as soon as she realised something was wrong. When asked if she had seen a rider stand on a character since, she told the court that while she continued to work at Movie World she had never returned to operate the carousel. "I haven't wanted to go back to working on that ride," she said. Theme park ride safety consultant David Randall wrote the report that recommended plastic brushes be installed on the carousel. He told the court he had made the recommendation as an opportunity for improvement on the ride, not as a requirement for it to operate. He said plastic brushes were a tactile deterrent rather than a physical barrier, meaning even if they were installed on the ride, the boy's head could still have gone through them and into the machinery above. "I recommended the plastic brush be installed so that if a child reaches up into that area, they touch the brushes and pull their hand away," he said. Mr Randall said even with decades of experience in safety management, he did not identify a person standing on a carousel character as a foreseeable risk. "I was extremely surprised after the event, which is unusual for me, as I'd never considered that as an issue," he told the court. On the third day of the trial, Ms O'Connor told Ms O'Neill the prosecution had no further evidence to offer, and asked to withdraw from the case. "I think that is a responsible decision, given the evidence we have heard," Ms O'Neill said before she dismissed the charge against Village Roadshow Theme Parks. The theme park operator will now make an application for WHSQ to pay its legal costs in the case.
