The Smiler Incident 02/06/15

[Rita Fan]

Wow Vicky really loves the attention from the media, doesn't she???

[Smiling bass]

Yep! I have had this discussion with a few people before. She is kinda... milking it a bit.

[Chaz]

"Human Error" caused the crash. Seems the investigation is complete.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34911943" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Slug3k]

Looks like the investigation is fully over. Hopefully see a statement soon. At least we might finally see what is happening (if anything) to The Smiler for the new park year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34911943" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[adam1942]

West Mids News @HeartWMidsNews
.@altontowers says the #Smiler ride will reopen in 2016 with a new set of safety measures #HeartNews pic.twitter.com/qTqoBzENFY

[lewis97]

Merlin's internal investigation has been completed but the HSE's is ongoing.

[themealgang]

Human error... it looks like we are going to see The Smiler ride again in 2016. That's great news.

Despite what has happened, The Smiler is easily one of the most impressive looking roller coasters on the planet and it will be nice to see this engineering feat roar once again.

I hope this is the end of the media storm and the park is now on track to becoming the UK's number one theme park once again.

[Alex]

Here is the statement by Merlin, the statement also mentions that The Smiler will definitely be re-opening.

Alton Towers today announced that it has completed its investigation into the incident which occurred on The Smiler rollercoaster on June 2nd, 2015.

The investigation concluded that the incident was the result of human error culminating in the manual override of the ride safety control system without the appropriate protocols being followed. The investigation also identified areas where protocols and the training of employees should be improved. There were found to be no technical or mechanical problems with the ride itself.

Immediately following the incident, the theme park implemented a number of improved safety measures across all multi-car rollercoasters to ensure that an incident of this nature can never happen again. On re-opening, The Smiler ride will also incorporate an extensive set of new safety measures, including technical improvements and enhanced training. An additional level of authorisation will also be added to the existing supervisory protocols to ensure that no manual override process may be completed without a senior member of staff authorising and being in attendance. The technical improvements include multiple additional CCTV cameras and additional manual reset buttons around the track which require staff to inspect each individual section to verify it is clear before authorisation can be given to restart the ride.

Alton Towers continues to provide help and support to all of those who were on the ride when the incident happened. It has taken full responsibility for the incident and continues to co-operate with the on-going Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation. We are confident that lessons have been learned and that appropriate action has been taken to address all the issues raised by our investigation and we believe our core conclusions will be in line with the HSE findings.

Having completed all of the necessary steps, the ride, which has been closed to the public since June, will re-open in 2016.

[Vladimir Bobinski]

Well it is more or less what I was expecting from an early stage, the operation being taken out of automatic mode and overridden. I can't imagine what these people involved are going through.

It's good news for the manufacturer and for Alton that nothing has gone wrong with with the equipment or maintenance procedures, it's going to be a matter of confidence in staff training and their ability to understand and follow it. Clearly recent changes made and going to be in line with putting additional layers of procedure to override the system again.

It didn't help that some experienced engineering talent had not long walked before all of this, not that it made a difference, but I know Merlin isn't exactly the best and most rewarding company to work for, it's a dead man shoes games, further announcements of job losses will hardly attract the right talent either, especially ones that will have to make decisions like these in the future.

I'm still expecting some comments from the general public about this being disrespectful, or this should have never happened, perhaps so, but I hope this is put into perspective that Alton Towers, let alone the UK has an excellent safety track record in the entertainment industry. I think of the injuries and lives lost in recent years from human error involving public transport and put into perspective things that are more likely to happen to me.

[Kraken]

Good to see human error confirmed as the cause. Most people who know how ride control systems work had figured this out on 2nd June.

What it is important to note is that the ride operator should only have one key for the ride - this enables them to turn the power on / off. All other keyswitches should have been left in Auto / Run positions. So all the operator can do is run the ride in "normal" mode. As soon as anything irregular happens that causes an error (such as a train stalling and not completing a block) then override keys are needed to reset the ride / operate it manually to clear the fault. These keys should only be held by technical services staff / team leaders.

So if correct key-holding procedures were being followed on 2nd June, then a member of technical services or a team leader (possibly both) were present with override keys when the ride was operated manually.

[owenrita121]

Does anyone think it will be open on opening day?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[abigsmurf]

If Alton Towers can prove they offered all the required training to make it clear that over-riding the safety measures is an absolute no-no and the there wasn't any culture of bypassing safety measures encoraged or ignored by management, they should be largely in the clear (although I'd imagine they'll still get a HSE fine).

Unfortunately (or maybe deservedly depending), the staff involved could end up in front of a judge.

[bengutt]

Unfortunately (or maybe deservedly depending), the staff involved could end up in front of a judge.

You've still got to feel it for them though, they must be going through hell, knowing that a stupid mistake has cost so much to so many. Likelihood is they are quite young, and will have to carry a lot of guilt around with them for a very long time.

No winners in this situation, sad all round.

[Aidan Lowe]

Glad there is nothing wrong with the ride itself and it did what it was supposed to do. Nice to finally get clarity and confirmation.

[xylyx]

It is strange to see it finally confirmed, and a nice relief to know for a fact it will reopen. As previously stated nobody wins in this case, the staff should have known better and the victims didn't deserve to be caught in the middle, regardless of all the attention they're getting now I think they would all go back to being fully mobile and not have to carry those memories around in an instant if they could.

As for the staff members that is a horrible burden to shoulder, and all due to one bad decision. No punitive action is as harrowing as that we afford ourselves and I hope they are being as sensitively dealt with as the press release suggests.

Now we only have the opening to go and I think the papers may finally be able to move on....maybe.

[SPAD]

without a doubt the staff involved who overrode the system will be up infront of a judge!

i work in the rail industry and we have a guard currently facing a judge in january for an incident he was CLEARED of any wrong doing by both the train operating company and the rail accident and investgation board.... we also had another guard go to jail for not following hos companies laid down operating proceedures resulting in the death of a young girl a few years ago...

so if this is anything like my industry, they will certainly be facing a judge! =(

[xylyx]

Aww if you want idiotic comments imagine my delight when their creator's homeland ran the news, ladies and gentlemen I give you, the Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... r-comments

[iaintraynor]

Never was on the smiler. Visited the towers for the first time late summer this year. Can't wait until next year to get corrected!

[118hazaman]

Aww if you want idiotic comments imagine my delight when their creator's homeland ran the news, ladies and gentlemen I give you, the Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... r-comments

The article itself is bad, but some of the comments beneath it are even worse.

[Master_feedback]

In a sad way human error maybe the worst possible out come for AT it means that process wasent followed or worst enforced or full and comprehensive training failed to be given the gp will think they have been lacking where it comes to gp h&s.....