Park Officials Hear Mother’s Wrath

The frustrated mother of a teenager who died in a collapsed water slide accused state officials Monday of dragging their feet on stringent new regulations for the amusement park industry.

“Two and a half years have gone by and we are still fighting for this,” Victoria Nelson of Napa said at a regulatory hearing. “I don’t understand it. How many injuries does it take? How many deaths does it take? . . . I hope maybe some of you in this room think and feel how it might be for you to go home and not find the most important person in your life there.”

Nelson’s 18-year-old daughter, Quimby Ghilotti, was killed in June 1997 when a water slide collapsed at Waterworld USA in Concord. The accident injured 32 other people.

The mother spoke at a hearing in which the final language and details for the first set of regulations of a new amusement park law were being ironed out. She urged industry officials to stick to the broadest possible wording in requiring amusement parks to report injuries to the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, the agency responsible for enforcing the law.

She looked directly at the industry representatives who were seated apart from the parents and consumer advocates and told them to think about their own families when they fight more restrictive state oversight.

“We get caught up in all the language of the law and we forget that it is about this,” said Nelson, holding her hand over her heart.

“Is it less important because it isn’t your family?”

Injury reporting is one of the key and controversial aspects of the bill, written by Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch). The new law also requires annual ride inspections by the state and by an independent contractor. Gov. Gray Davis signed the legislation last year, but it has been largely unenforceable because the regulations have not been adopted.

Under the draft regulations, parks would be required to report all injuries beyond those that require only first aid. The draft language includes a list of injuries that would trigger a report, including loss of consciousness, bone fracture and permanent disfigurement.

Consumer advocates argue that the list is inadequate and would give amusement parks an excuse not to report other significant injuries.

“If California allows the park industry to set arbitrary limits on injury reporting, our understanding of the problem and our ability to solve it will be limited as well,” said Kathy Fackler of La Jolla. Fackler’s son was injured in 1998 on a Disneyland roller coaster, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Torlakson, who was elected to the state Senate on Nov. 7, appeared at Monday’s hearing, urging for broad reporting of injuries so that consumers will have comprehensive safety data.

“I am convinced every part of this bill will make a difference and reduce accidents,” Torlakson said.

Torlakson first pushed the amusement park safety legislation after Nelson’s daughter died. That bill was rejected. He tried again after a fatal Christmas Eve 1998 accident at Disneyland. In that case, a Washington tourist was killed when he was struck in the head by a metal cleat that had torn off the sailing ship Columbia. The man’s wife and a Disneyland employee were seriously injured.

It is rare for the author of a bill to take the time to attend a hearing once the bill has passed, said Len Welsh, special counsel for regulatory affairs for the health and safety division, also known as Cal/OSHA. And he said it is helpful for regulators to know what Torlakson’s intent was.

Only a couple of the representatives from the amusement park industry spoke during the hearing.

But in written comments, amusement parks generally supported the proposed language.

Gary Fitzpatrick, general counsel for Palace Entertainment, a company that owns and operates family entertainment centers in California and other states, said the current regulations are “very clear and workable.”

Attorney Boyd Jensen, who often advocates for theme parks, said, “It is important that we remove the politics and headline-grabbing language.” The most important aspect of injury reporting, Boyd said, is that it be measurable.

Jensen and others also commented on the state’s proposal that licensed engineers be allowed to inspect rides. Both industry representatives and consumer advocates agreed that the engineers must be specifically trained for amusement park attractions.

Disneyland spokesmen had said the park would be sending in written comments as well, but those had not been received by regulators by Monday afternoon.

Injury reporting was the key area of disagreement and the issue that prompted Nelson to make her plea to the state officials and industry representatives.

Cal/OSHA officials said all of the public comment will be considered. If the regulations are rewritten, they will allow 15 days of public comment. It will likely be February before the final regulations are adopted. Cal/OSHA is also working on two more sets of regulations that must be completed before the law can be fully enacted.

Additional inspectors are also being hired. Those people will be responsible for annual inspections of rides, inspections following accidents and when a ride is opened or changed.

“We’re building a whole new unit from the ground up,” Welsh said.