The owner of Dreamworld is facing a maximum penalty of $4.5 million after being charged today over the deaths of four people on the Thunder River Rapids Ride in 2016.
Ardent Leisure has confirmed the Queensland Work Health and Safety Prosecutor today filed three charges against the company, five months after the coroner handed down his findings into the tragedy that took the lives of Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi.
Each of the Category 2 charges pursuant to Section 32 of the Queensland Work Health and Safety Act 2011 carry a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.
“First and foremost, we again express our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of Roozbeh Araghi, Luke Dorsett, Kate Goodchild and Cindy Low for their loss and ongoing suffering and say sorry to all of the people impacted by this tragedy,” Ardent Leisure chairman Dr Gary Weiss and theme parks division chief executive John Osborne said in a joint statement.
All four suffered fatal injuries at the Gold Coast theme park when they were thrown from their raft in the unloading area and either trapped or ejected into the water beneath a mechanised conveyor in October 2016.
“There has been considerable change at Dreamworld over the last few years as was acknowledged by the coroner in his report,” the statement said.
“Dreamworld has taken substantive and proactive steps to improve safety across the entire park and continues to enhance existing systems and practices, as well as adopt new ones, as we develop and implement our safety case in accordance with the Queensland Government’s new major amusement park safety regulations.”
Coroner James McDougall delivered a scathing assessment of the “total” and “systemic” safety failures at the park, referring Ardent Leisure to the Office of Industrial Relations to consider proceeding with charges.
“It is reasonably suspected that Ardent Leisure may have committed an offence under workplace law,” Mr McDougall told the Brisbane Magistrates Court in February as he handed down nearly his nearly 300-page report.
The six-week inquest wrapped up in December 2018.
In response to the findings, Ardent Leisure committed to implementing the coroner’s recommendations and improving its safety practices, and said Dreamworld would construct a memorial garden to honour and pay respect to the victims.
Last month the company was served with a shareholder class action over the tragedy, alleging contraventions of the corporations act.
Ardent Leisure said it strongly denied any contraventions and described the action as “without merit”, saying it intended to “vigorously defend the proceedings”.
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2020-07-21 00:11:15Z
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