KS - Caleb Schwab, 10, dies on 17-story Schlitterbahn waterpark slide, Aug 2016

Comments very interesting. One woman said her daughter and son-in-law rode it two weeks ago and the husband's velcro strap was worn and loose. Workers at top were mostly teens between the ages of 16-18 and the weight wasn't being rechecked and people could switch duo/trio who was riding from the bottom to top of stairs, and not really paying attention to how tight a person was strapped in their seat.

 

I mean really.

These things are always run by incompetent teens. Is anyone shocked this happened?

Don't let your kids do stupid ****. Duh.

 

I think teens can be very responsible, caring and diligent but it comes down to the work and safety culture of the workplace. I think if the owners and managers of the park had a lax attitide to safety it doesn't necessarily matter how old the staff are.

I don't think the young staff members are to blame for this. If anyone is, and that is yet tbd, it is the designers of the ride and/or park management.

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If the safety straps weren't working properly and we're repaired with duct tape, the inspectors the company claims they use should have shut down the ride until they were repaired .

It doesn't sound as thought the inspector was doing his job, as happens when you allow the park owners to handle inspections themselves.

Kansas has almost no regulation of these rides. I guess that's why the owners protected their interests by having a free day at the park for elected officials.

It also appears the ride can reopen at any time. There's no restriction on that. A

 

You're probably right. I went back to reread why (Six Flags) Great America's The Edge was closed down after its fatal accident. While it was repaired and reopened the public never regained interest and ridership was down.

http://greatamericaparks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=202&start=30


Perhaps the same will happen if this ride reopens.

 

The management company's prime concern is on their payroll. The workers, whether teens or older, are only following directions. You can bet that little inspection is done on a daily basis, especially checking seat belts in each raft.

While it would seem a child would not be placed in the front seat, I feel certain the people loading the rafts have been instructed where to place them.

If a seatbelt is not working properly, a person may tell the person at the bottom when they get off, but is that message going to be relayed to the top or that raft pulled off the line? Doubt it, as the goal is to keep the line moving and there have been no accidents, so why pull it? If the truth be known, the workers more than likely forget or ignore a complaint immediately. They are too busy doing their job.

I am curious as to how the two women were hurt? This is a nightmare for many people. Can you imagine the person at the bottom of the slide that witnessed this first hand?

My heart is broken for the Schwab family. They are living a nightmare because a person wanted to have the highest slide in the USA!

My opinions only.

 

Snipped for focus. This is my theory of the women's injuries, and how Caleb ended up in the pool at the bottom of the slide, after the raft.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...r-park-slide-Verruckt&p=12737442#post12737442

 

This ride shouldn't be legal. No age restriction? Unbelievable!! I'm afraid a society that allows
this type of high-risk ride has to take ultimate responsibility. If the price of fun is a child's life here
and there, it's not worth it in my humble opinion.

 

ETA, ITA!

RUBBM

ThIs is the crux of the issue, though, is it not? That is their job!

The ride should have been stopped - immediately. Why this safety check wasn't part of SOP is beyond me. The need to keep things moving above rider safety is unacceptable.

Again, reactive not proactive!

:moo:


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http://www.people.com/article/caleb-schwab-decapitated-water-slide-accident

"There was a woman being treated for some kind of injury on her face and head," Friedrichsen, 27, told PEOPLE. "That was when my boyfriend said, 'I think there is someone else.'"

What her boyfriend Josh Foster pointed out was first responders covering the body of 10-year-old Caleb. Two women in the boat with him – neither related to Caleb – suffered minor facial injuries.

"It looked like he must have somehow been ejected from his seat, bounced around between the netting and the slide and just slid down," [Kelsey] Friedrichsen added. "He would have fallen down without the raft. It's kind of like a tube."

 

Many amusement parks are self insured. I found that out about 15 years ago when my then husband almost had his finger torn off on a slide where a screw was sticking up. Luckily the ER was able to re-attach it . It would have affected his ability to do his job. We had to fight them, and got only $3000 to cover his time missed at work due to the injury.

I know this sounds minor, compared to what this family is dealing with, but they may come up to many walls when investigating this horrible accident. I am also questioning why the parents allowed him to go on this ride without one of them with him. I would never let my child at that age go on such a dangerous ride alone.

 

BBM

Ugh. I hadn't thought of that, but you're probably right.

 

Police only say that he died from a "neck injury" but witnesses appear to confirm the decapitation rumors:

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/lat...erbahn-Water-Park-Kansas-US-Caleb-Schwab-tall

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I feel for the women riding with him as well. Just so tragic.

http://fox4kc.com/2016/08/08/olathe...rk-with-his-family-dies-in-accident-on-slide/


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This link shows that the industry trade group for amusement parks have spent $620,000 so far this year on lobbying at the federal level

https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000026658

They're mostly working to undo the few regulations left that try to protect public safety. Thanks to their past lobbying, the Consumer Protection Safety Bureau is no longer able to even collect data on how many people are injured at amusement parks. Owners of these parks no longer report that information to federal or state governments. The only way these agencies can track injuries is through reports from hospital emergency room records.

Looks like they also lobby a lot against rules for worker overtime and safety. So they're making workers put in long hours in unsafe conditions.

The industry wants safety controlled by states, because most states have much more lax regulations. Kansas has almost no regulations on these attractions. Owners are allowed to monitor their own safety and aren't required to report any problems. There's no public official, outside of law enforcement, who can make them shut down unsafe rides.

They also spend a lot of money lobbying state legislatures to protect their interests. Data on that lobbying is scarce as most states don't have a system where the public can track spending on lobbying by industries.

ETA:

State hasn’t inspected Schlitterbahn water slide where 10-year-old died since it opened in 2014

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article94494127.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article94494127.html#storylink=cpy

So the Schlitterbahn folks have managed to convince the state not to audit the annual inspections they've supposedly done since 2014. That must be why they give lawmakers a free day at the park. To keep them from auditing the safety inspection reports. That's very irresponsible on the part of those lawmakers and now one of them has paid a big price for ignoring public safety.

 

BBM

Not picking on you, RT, I've seen a lot of people express the same thing. I don't understand, though. If his parents were on the ride with him, what could they have done? Honestly don't understand.

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Witnesses are highly unreliable at best. I haven’t heard any witnesses give a good account of what happened. Even the women who were in the boat with him, say they don’t know what happened. Many of the so-called witnesses clearly weren’t even present, and others only saw the aftermath. If there are any good witnesses to what actually happened, I don’t think we have heard from them yet. Probably some of the employees would be the best witnesses, and I’m sure they have been instructed not to talk.

 

This article states that police confirm to People, that Caleb was decapitated.
Eta, correct link. Sorry
http://www.people.com/article/caleb-schwab-decapitated-water-slide-accident

 

I kind of think "neck injury" is a kinder way to say "decapitation" without offending anyone's sensibilities.

 

That might backfire on them now that they have killed a lawmaker’s son, with their negligence.