Archives | April 2010 | Bemusement - The Attractions Industry Blog

Friday, April 23, 2010 Corporate manslaughter laws (UK) and the amusement industry What constitutes appropriate punitive measures in case of serious injury or death at a theme park or visitor attraction?

By Steffan Puttnam Related: Are Farm Animal Attractions and Petting Zoos too dangerous for young children? / Are amusement rides part of the real property? / Theme parks & resorts : Pondering safety and legal liability From my own experience and observations I have seen great strides made – significant ones in the last 10 years alone - to improve safety standards and help avoid such incidents that could lead to a death at a visitor attraction. However there is now, more than ever before, a greater degree of responsibility placed on the shoulders of the attractions owners, directors or senior managers, although the onus of proof in this area is far from straight forward. So what would the consequences be if a tragic accident occurred and a case of corporate manslaughter was proven? Most recently the Sentencing Guidelines Council in the UK has published its Definitive Guideline on Corporate Manslaughter and Health and Safety Offences which cause death. When the Corporate Manslaughter Act finally received Royal Assent in July 2007 following seven years of waiting it was with the expectation of "Severe Penalties". It was suggested that an organisation guilty of the offence will be liable to an unlimited fine. The Governments advisory body, the Sentencing Advisory Panel, was recommending that any company found guilty of the new offence should be fined as much as 10% of its annual turnover! The Council has now set out principles to guide courts in dealing with companies and organisations that cause death through a gross breach of care or where breach of health and safety requirements are a significant cause of the death. The advice is clear – punitive and significant fines should be imposed both to deter and to reflect public concern at avoidable loss of life. Fines for companies and organisations found guilty of corporate manslaughter may be millions of pounds and should seldom be below £500,000. For other health and safety offences that cause death, fines from £100,000 up to hundreds of thousands of pounds should be imposed. In deciding the level of fine, account must be taken of the financial circumstances of the offending organisation. In the guideline the Council emphasises the need for a court to have full, accurate and reliable information and details the method for ensuring that it is consistently provided. When fixing the fine, a court should not be influenced by the impact on shareholders and directors, nor consider the costs of complying with other sanctions. However, the effect on the employment of the innocent may be relevant, as may the effect on provision of services to the public. Factors increasing the seriousness of the offence identified by the Council include the foreseeability of serious injury, whether non-compliance was common and widespread within the organisation, and how far up the organisation responsibility for the breach went. Other factors that would aggravate the offence and raise the fine above the relevant minimum level include the number of deaths and serious injury caused, injury to vulnerable persons, failure to heed warnings or respond to near misses of a similar nature, cost-cutting, and deliberate failure to obtain or comply with relevant licences. Publicity Orders - compelling companies and organisations to publish statements about their conviction for corporate manslaughter, details of the offence and the fine - are part of the penalty and should be imposed in virtually all cases. Council member and Vice President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Lord Justice Anthony Hughes said; "Fines cannot and do not attempt to value a human life – compensation will be assessed separately in these cases. These are serious offences and the fines must be punitive and substantial and have an impact on the company or organisation." Such punitive measures could have a severe impact on any organisation or attraction but do these guidelines go far enough? What happened to the "10% of turnover" suggestion? What level of fine would be imposed in other countries and what more, if anything, could the industry do to ensure the further safety of both visitors and staff?
Posted By Stefan Puttnam -- At 12:12 AM \| Comments (0) \| Trackbacks (0)
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Categories Legal/safety Tags compensation, injury, legal, liability, safety
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010 Themed design: GKTW ‘s Serendipity sets sail… While exhibitors remain on tenterhooks as to whether they might actually be able to make it to the DEAL show in Dubai later this week – frustratingly Iceland’s’ volcanoes haven't provided an itinerary, nor do they subscribe to the Marquess of Queensberry's rules - and British school kids test their teacher’s resolve with the novel excuse of volcanic ash, it seemed a good time to show some rather cheery pics of “Serendipity”, a vessel we first caught sight of last month…

Founded in 1989 by Henri Landwirth a Belgian Holocaust survivor, The Give Kids The World Village is a not-for-profit resort in Kissimmee, Florida for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Children that have been diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses become eligible for a “GKTW Wish”. Over 250 wish-granting organisations across the world arrange trips to the Give Kids The World Village in Kissimee, central Florida. Give Kids The World then provides accommodation at its resort, meals for a week-long vacation, and donated admission tickets to local attractions including Walt Disney World Resort, SeaWorld, and Universal Orlando Resort. GKTW's president is Pam Landwirth. Blooloop ran an item last month (Environs Donates $650,000 Scenic Ship to Children with Life-Threatening Illnesses) about how themed designers Environs had donated a custom designed and fabricated 90 foot ship, “Serendipity”, to the organisation and it was to be one of the main attractions of the charity’s new water based attractions area. “Christened” last month, the ship’s journey, from fabrication and build in Environ’s workshops to installation on site and finally the launch party is catalogued below. Thanks to Rikke Ravnborg* of Environs for the images.*
Posted By Charles Read -- At 4:39 PM \| Comments (2) \| Trackbacks (0)
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Categories Unclassified Tags Design, Disney, Florida, GKTW, ship, theme, theming
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Monday, April 05, 2010 Report from the annual Halloween & Attractions Show Descending into the dark depths of the 15th annual Halloween & Attractions show, held in March at the America's Center in St Louis, Missouri USA, Mark & Alessandra braved the sights, sounds, latex rubber masks and other creepy things to bring you this report for Blooloop.

by Mark Plattner. The show hosted a wide spectrum of vendors. They ranged from the light, traditional Halloween fare of Jack-O-Lanterns and bats, to the most horrific, ground-shaking, corpse-stenched, maggot dropping, blood spraying, rotting-teenager-in-the-basement "Haunts" out there. The outer circle of Hell is made up of innocuous cornfields. Beware the thing that lurks in the rows (HauntedCostumes.com) Who knew that the inner vestibule would house such lovely artwork? (www.bigstuff.com) We are greeted by some weird demons from Scare Products (www.scareproducts.com). They want to be our friends. Luckily they got their pets caged up (www.allscare.com). Or maybe not (www.darkravendesigns.com)... Alessandra receives a proposal she feels she has to refuse. Having said "No," to her perfect match, Alessandra is emotionally exhausted and needs a rest, but with unexpected results. We see sights to make us gibber and flee (www.nightscreamstudios.com). Cerberus wont let us leave (www.hauntedenterprises.com). I meet Cthulhu (www.gore-galore.com). and am transformed (www.compositeeffects.com). Alessandra comes to a decidedly sticky end (www.frightprops.com). But who is taking the pictures (www.compositeeffects.com)? The end...
Posted By Mark Plattner -- At 11:19 PM \| Comments (0) \| Trackbacks (0)
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Thursday, April 01, 2010 Attractions technology : 3 Major Projects – What happened next? With a mood of cautious optimism in the amusement park industry and a number of high profile developments creating a stir – Disney in Asia, Sentosa, massive Chinese developments, the growth of the industry in South America and the rise and rise of Merlin – it is timely to revisit 3 major projects . What happened?

1. Smart Pixels. This revolutionary new display technology was announced by Global Immersion’s Martin Howe exactly a year ago to the general astonishment of the industry. Utilising on-board nano-processors, the very latest in Organic LED (OLED) technology and microwave transmitters together with state of the art polysyllabic pseudo-scientific nomenclature and acronymic etymology (PPNAE) the plan was that each individual pixel in the display would in effect be “smart” , operating as a separate entity but in glorious unison with its fellow pixels. With scaled down satellite technology and nano GPS receivers “each pixel literally knows its precise location in the screen” and this innovative and ingenious development looked set to shake the audiovisual business to its core. For the full feature see: Global Immersion Sneak Preview of Its New SmartPixel [tm] Technology When we last heard, the pixels were still in early development. With a large display featuring 100 million pixels, the size of each individual pixel last year (around a foot in diameter), was an issue: not exactly “nano” technology. Furthermore, at $10 per pixel the costing would clearly need work. So where is this technology now? We touched base with Howe - he is currently engaged in an ongoing development and installation project in the British Virgin Islands - and he said, “Miniaturisation is still the key. We are almost there. I will be working on this over lunch when I am back in June. Or July”. 2. Binge Britain: The Theme park Ride. (see Binge Britain: The Theme park Ride ) With the general election imminent here in the UK, this highly ambitious project, which first caused a stir 2 years ago, had the potential to become a political “hot potato”. As all the major parties look to make society and its ills a central point of their campaign (The Conservatives suggesting we live in “Broken Britain”, The Labour Party countering with “It’s OK actually, don’t knock it”) this themed ride, a whirlwind "binge-drinking and nightclubbing interactive experience", seemed certain to be both a hugely popular attraction and a provocative and timely source of debate. Is Britain at night simply a scene of wild bacchanalian excess or is it still a land of thatched cottages and vicars waving hello as they cycle by on a Sunday morning? We spoke to Alvin Sidebottom to see what had become of his plans. He explained that there had been a breakdown in communication between him and the major theme park operators as none had returned his calls. 3. The Lunar waterpark . Finally, the most extravagant of the projects – and undoubtedly the most expensive- was The Lunar waterpark plan. (see: Ambitious plans for $2 Billion Lunar Waterpark set to lift off ). The entrepreneur behind this extraordinary scheme – a waterpark on the moon – is Albert Sidebottom, a cousin of the designer of Binge Britain the Theme Park Ride (above). However, we are unable to report as to his success with NASA, Disney or indeed any of the other amusement park players with which he was hoping to work as he has left the industry and now is a major operative in the North East Lancashire door to door Shellfish consultancy business. Images: Top - the earth viewed from the moon with waterpark scene and possible appearance of smartpixel once down to 1 inch in diameter. Bottom right - typical "binge-drinking" scene, note empty beer bottles and licentious behaviour.
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Categories Amusement Parks, Attractions Business, Themed Design, Waterparks Tags april, Design, global, moon, Themed Design, theming
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