Report to fault Disney - Orange County Register, 11/26/03

[Darkbeer]

Report to fault Disney - Orange County Register, 11/26/03

QuikQuote: But many Disney veterans don't think the changes made the park safer, pointing to a 1998 accident on the Colombia sailing ship, in which a Washington man died, and a July 2000 accident on Space Mountain in which nine passengers were hurt. Maintenance and equipment issues were investigated in both accidents.
"If you want to do maintenance right, it costs a lot of money. It's not something you can do cheaply and in the past, they never tried," said Bob Penfield, a former Disney facilities supervisor who retired in 1997.

[tod]

"Report to fault Disney"?

The punsters are alive and well in OC.

--T

[karl]

Some interesting quotes from the article....

--

"Among veteran Disney employees, the fatal accident on Big Thunder has resurfaced longstanding concerns about safety at the park, concerns that date back to maintenance staff cuts made after a 1997 efficiency study by McKinsey and Co. According to a copy of the confidential McKinsey report, the consultant told Disney it could save as much as $16.9 million a year by trimming back day staff and putting a smaller staff of mechanics on the night shift. McKinsey recommended cutting the number of maintenance employees from 738 to 421.

McKinsey suggested that the realignment, coupled with the hiring of better-trained managers, would bring a more advanced approach to maintenance science instead of intuition."

then...

"It could be as simple as someone missed it. That's bad. That's why you want redundant procedures, to look at it and look at it again. You need to have those checks in place when you're talking about ride safety that means lives."

--

Added to the previously mentioned quotes in newspapers about McKinsey people asking why things are checked daily because when does it ever fail... and I think we found the ignition source.

[genenpet]

Mckinsey: Enron, Disneyland Deaths. Love that company.

[merlinjones]

WDC spokeperson Leslie Goodman said in the LATimes:

"Our long standing commitment to safety remains the same. Anyone who suggests otherwise is simply wrong... We believe that our system incorporates the best modern management practices and safety proceedures. We constantly evaluate and explore new ways to improve our operation."

WELL THAT'S JUST THE PROBLEM!... MODERN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES!!! To me, that's a loaded admission. Just because they are the newest and trendiest and most expensive management practices, doesn't mean they are correct in any way!

[Mr. Wiggins]

"Anyone who suggests otherwise is simply wrong."

Seven words that say it all about WDC. In Mikey's Kingdom, non-approved ideas are ignored or dismissed... along with the people who voice them.

[hazlnut]

Originally posted by tod
"Report to fault Disney"?

The punsters are alive and well in OC.

--T

The whole thing is a PR trainwreck if you ask me.