Death at Sunway Lagoon
Kip Ross
I just spoke with someone last night who lives in Malaysia. They said
someone fell out of Sunway Lagoon's Runaway Train rollercoaster. You
can find a pic of this ride at:
Joe Schwartz
kip...@mindspring.com (Kip Ross) wrote:
> I just spoke with someone last night who lives in Malaysia. They said
> someone fell out of Sunway Lagoon's Runaway Train rollercoaster. You
> can find a pic of this ride at:
>
> www.jaring.my/biz/sunway/adven.htm
Yes, I read about this accident a couple days ago. Here's an article from
the New Straits Times (reprinted without permission):
> How safe are the rides?
> Source: The New Straits Times Date: Tue 02-Dec-97 Author: Merina Hew
>
> ONE of the most important features of a successful theme park is
> that it transports you into another world the minute you step through
> its gates.
>
> For 29-year-old mother of two Siti Arfah Sheikh Md Dom, this
> concept was pushed to its darkest, most twisted extreme.
> Last week, she was unceremoniously transported into the world
> beyond by the Runaway Train ride at Petaling Jaya's Sunway Lagoon
> Resort in what one is inclined to label a "freak accident".
>
> Siti Arfah, a Bank Simpanan Nasional clerk, and her 32-year-old
> husband Jubli Mohd Taib were flung out of their carriage when the
> train came out of a tight corner.
>
> Jubli hung on to the safety bar but Siti Arfah fell, hitting her
> head on an artificial rock and then falling into a man-made pool.
> She was pronounced dead on arrival at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre.
> She died of head injuries.
>
> According to preliminary investigations by the Selangor-Federal
> Territory Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), the
> seat- belt of Siti Arfah and Jubli's carriage was frayed and should
> have been replaced.
>
> The ends of the belt were tied in a knot instead of being properly
> secured. More worrying, however, is that the seat-belt on the
> Runaway Train is only the secondary safety measure, the first being
> the safety lap bar that, as it appears, was not fastened properly.
>
> According to Jubli, Siti Arfah had expressed concern regarding the
> belt but only as the train began moving. Despite his shouts, the
> train was not stopped until the ride came to its end. Like Siti
> Arfah, Jubli and their children (Asral, 7, and Sofia, 4), thousands
> of us have stood in lines at the portals of pleasure, fidgeting with
> impatience for day passes into theme parks around Malaysia.
>
> Therefore, Siti Arfah's death is nothing if not rudely sobering;
> both for those of us who trustingly offer up ourselves to the
> cathartic spins and thrills and for those of us who own and run these
> rides.
>
> It has made us sit bolt upright and consider the mundane subject
> of safety, a subject that is only too easily eclipsed by needs
> apparently more immediate.
>
> For one thing, Siti Arfah's accident has prompted DOSH to declare
> that it will carry out random checks on all theme parks over and
> above its routine check every 15 months.
>
> "As it is, we require theme parks to send us their method
> statements, and we send our safety inspectors - all qualified
> machanical engineers - to the parks to check on the software as well
> as the hardware used," says Ke Geok Chuan, deputy director and head
> of DOSH's enforcement unit.
>
> DOSH advocates proactive safety in theme parks and factories and
> it has, in the past, written to several theme parks, reminding them
> to beef up on safety measures.
>
> Says Ke: "Generally, we send the theme parks these letters when we
> receive written or phone-in complaints from park patrons who tell of,
> amongst other things, lack of supervision on rides, poor crowd
> control, and shabby-looking equipment."
>
> As far as theme parks are concerned, DOSH checks on the quality
> and quantity of staff training, the quality of equipment maintenance,
> and degree of supervision.
>
> In general, theme parks in Malaysia run routine checks according
> to standard checklists every day, two hours before opening to the
> public.
>
> For rides like the Runaway Train, technicians first test brakes,
> bearings and wheels. Senior technicians then double check the
> technicians' efforts.
>
> After this, the rides are put through a dry run each before
> visitors are allowed on. Operations staff or attendants take over
> from here, checking and loading guests into the carriages.
>
> They are the ones who ensure that safety belts and bars are
> secured well.
>
> After every 20 runs, the rides are checked again the way they are
> at the beginning of the day. Some theme park safety managers reduce
> the number of runs to 10 between checks.
>
> Technicians must have, at least, an electrical certificate. To
> date, there is no specific training centre for theme park staff in
> Asia but executive and technical managers are qualified mechanical
> engineers.
>
> When a theme park buys a new ride - generally rides are procured
> from the United States - a consultant engineer from the ride's
> supplier supervises the maintenance and running of the rides.
>
> The consultant engineer stays at the theme park with the
> newly-acquired ride for about six months to train local staff on its
> maintenance and operations.
>
> Although not required by local law, many of the theme parks in
> Malaysia are members of international associations for theme and
> amusement parks from which they learn of new products, safety
> measures and maintenance techniques.
>
> Of the many associations, IAAPA (International Association of
> Amusement Places and Attractions) seems the most comprehensive. It
> holds various seminars throughout the year, many of which focus on
> safety in amusement parks.
>
> IAAPA also provides its members advice on crisis management. To
> help IAAPA members handle media inquiries, IAAPA makes available
> resources to help members restore the public's faith in theme parks.
>
> According to the association, the odds against being injured
> seriously enough to require hospitalisation are about one in seven
> million while the odds against being fatally injured are one in 250
> million.
>
> These odds are based on a very conservative estimate of the number
> of rides actually taken in theme parks worldwide. Something like 290
> million visits are made to fixed-site amusement parks and attractions
> every year and if each guest takes two rides, then 580 million rides
> would have been taken.
>
> IAAPA says that of the few accidents that do occur, less than 20
> per cent are related to faulty equipment or design or to bad
> maintenance.
>
> Accidents at amusement parks are generally people-related,
> "mainly," writes IAAPA's executive director John Graff on the
> association's website, "the result of horseplay, patron negligence,
> or other human error unrelated to the condition of the ride."
>
> Statistics of accidents and mishaps in local theme parks are, at
> this point, unavailable.
>
> Although the DOSH investigations are still going on and no reason
> (or combination of reasons) for the safety bar and belt on Siti
> Arfah's carriage coming loose has been established, one
> spine-chilling fact is certain: the seat-belt was in an appalling
> condition.
>
> Siti Arfah's death does not appear to have been caused by
> horseplay on her part, but the seat-belt does seem to indicate that
> poor maintenance of equipment had a role to play in the sad affair.
>
> To be sure, what happened to Siti Arfah could not have come at a
> worse time for Malaysian theme parks, the costs and sophistication of
> which have made them one of the nation's symbols of prosperity.
>
> Malaysian theme park projects that cost anything between RM500
> million and RM1 billion mushroomed in the early 1990s to complement
> and capitalise upon the region's economic boom.
>
> However, operating a theme park is both capital- and
> labour-intensive. The volume of visitors is crucial; investors can
> only expect returns from operating profits.
>
> As such, it appears that Malaysian theme parks would be badly
> affected by the haze which prevents locals from frolicking outdoors
> while discouraging tourists from visiting the country. If avid
> adventure-seeking Ahmad Rejaie Arbee's remarks are anything to go by,
> Siti Arfah's death gives the industry the bad Press it does not
> need.
>
> Fifteen-year-old Rejaie, who has been on rollercoaster rides in
> Malaysia, Korea and Australia, says: "I love the thrill rollercoaster
> rides give you. Yes, I think of the possibility of death every
> second of the ride, and that's what makes it so exciting.
>
> "Still, you don't really believe that you're going to die. You
> really trust the safety of the equipment and the people who designed
> the rides. I think that I shall not go on a rollercoaster for a
> while."
>
> Although theme parks are more than their rollercoaster rides, the
> incident with Sunway Lagoon's Runaway Train (that has been closed
> indefinitely) makes one beg the question of theme park safety in
> general.
>
> Although responsibility for safety in theme parks lies with both
> theme park operators and visitors, the former, as IAAPA declares,
> bears "the first responsibility".
>
> Visitors must adhere to the rules of the rides and watch out for
> any signs of poor maintenance or lack of supervision.
>
> But as safety is the principal concern of the theme and amusement
> park industry - the very success of the business depends on it -
> theme park operators, in the words of Graff, "have an obligation to
> provide safe, quality family entertainment".
>
> This is crucial for an industry whose success is hinged on repeat
> business.
>
> Much has already been said of Siti Arfah's accident in national
> dailies over the past week. However, before Siti Arfah's memory
> completes its metamorphosis into a statistic, it must be highlighted
> that the course of so many lives have been changed by her death. Her
> children are without a mother; a price too high for a bit of fun.
>
> (Copyright 1997)
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Joe Schwartz (x...@poboxes.com) -- 5 Broadway #407, Troy, NY 12180
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