Six Flags rides accidents investigation after another malfunction

Jan 27, 2024

JACKSON — In the last six weeks, Six Flags Great Adventure, one of New Jersey's leading attractions, has seen four major attractions shut down after safety incidents. They led to three hospital visits for park guests.

Whether the incidents, coming in such quick succession, speak to any wider concerns about safety or worker training is unclear. Six Flags issued written assurances that its rides were safe but declined to make officials available to answer questions.

Likewise, the state office in charge of inspecting Six Flags rides — the main attraction for over 3 million annual visitors — has failed to respond to repeated requests to make officials available to discuss the incidents or what steps are being taken to keep visitors safe.

The internet has been filling the communications void, in sometimes unflattering — if not informed — ways. After the fourth incident, social media users began comparing the 47-year-old theme park to Action Park, the infamous, injury-riddled theme park in North Jersey popularized in an HBO Max documentary released last year.

One commenter to the Asbury Park Press Facebook page simply asked: "How is Six Flags not shut down yet?"

The recent incidents occurred on four of the park's most popular rides:

"Here in New Jersey, our rides are professionally inspected annually by internal and external experts as required by all New Jersey laws and regulations," spokeswoman Kristin Fitzgerald said in a statement Thursday. "Additionally, we have an outstanding maintenance team, and our maintenance and safety experts complete extensive safety checks before opening the rides each day."

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She declined to make anyone from the park available to answer questions about what led to the incidents and what the park was doing to ensure guests' safety.

"It's the same old script: 'Safety is our first priority.' If safety is their first priority, why don't they come out with their team of people responsible for that ride, and let them field questions," asked Ken Martin, a Virginia-based amusement park safety analyst who works with parks, fairs, government entities, insurance companies and attorneys.

"They're not going to do that, because it'll show they're weak or be construed as admitting liability — but the public, we need to know what causes these things," Martin said.

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At least two of the rides involved in incidents, the Saw Mill Log Flume and El Toro, were shut down by the state for safety violations within the last year, according to a USA TODAY NETWORK review of inspection records for those rides. There has been no word on whether the cited problems played any role in the recent incidents.

El Toro was shut down for two weeks after inspectors found a defective ground fault circuit interrupter near the roller coaster's 181-foot lift hill, according to the inspection records, obtained through an Open Public Records Act request.

A defective ground fault — which shuts off power in the event of a ground-fault, which could cause electrocution — could cause a serious, life or death issue if left unfixed or is a recurring issue, Martin said. The ride was briefly shut down in 2015 for failing to provide a cover for a different ground fault circuit interrupter.

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The Saw Mill Log Flume had been in operation for barely one month before the June 13 incident. It had been closed since December 2019, after inspectors found "major rust and corrosion" in steel and wood on the ride, according to inspection records.

Inspection records for The Joker and Nitro, also requested by the Network, have not yet been made public by the state.

The Department of Community Affairs oversees inspections of carnivals and amusement park rides, including theme parks. Network interview requests, including of inspectors and enforcement officials, went unanswered.

Also in June 2021: New Jersey shuts down El Toro roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure after derailment

Across the country, theme parks and amusement parks have seen an uptick in safety incidents, said Martin, who works with parks, governing bodies, insurance adjusters and attorneys on anything from researching for a potential lawsuit to training park staff in safety best practices.

According to a report issued by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, there were 1,299 ride-related injuries in the United States and Canada in 2019, about 3.7 injuries for every 1 million amusement and theme park visitors.

That's up slightly from 1,150 injuries in 2014, though the ratio of injuries to visitors went down a tick to 3.8 injuries for every 1 million visitors.

Statistics weren't available for the pandemic-truncated 2020 season or for the current summer. But there have been problems.

An 11-year-old boy was killed and his brother was left in a medically induced coma after their raft overturned on a rapids ride in Iowa on July 4.

A month earlier, a 47-year-old woman died on an Indiana roller coaster after the force of the ride tore an artery in her chest, causing severe blood loss, a coroner ruled.

Martin said the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated issues that have always existed on amusement rides — such as guests breaking safety rules or an employee being distracted or cutting a corner.

(For a closer look at the yesteryear of amusement rides in New Jersey, tune into HBO Max's "Class Action Park," which noted how, as a reviewer wrote, "Broken bones, other injuries and deaths throughout the park put stress on the local ambulance corps, generated further scrutiny and triggered violations that led to Action Park's closure in 1995.")

Now that guests are returning in droves, Martin suspects that some employees may be a little rusty in their duties, riders may be a little antsy for the thrill of a roller coaster — and the rides themselves could have been impacted after going without regular use.

"It's still the reason we check rides every day," Martin said. "They could need maintenance, they've been sitting for over a year. You've got wood and metal and it's all subject to rot."

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While the federal government has laws in place regarding temporary amusement parks, such as those that travel, the rest of the amusement park industry is governed on a state-by-state basis.

In previous interviews with the Network, Martin lauded the way New Jersey handles amusement park safety — requiring state approval before a ride's materials are even shipped to New Jersey and inspections during construction to ensure it's built to the manufacturer's exact specifications.

But that faith has been shaken in recent years, Martin said, especially after a 10-year-old girl was thrown to her death while on a "Super Sizzler" ride in an Upper Deerfield amusement park in 2019.

While visiting the site as a consultant after the incident, Martin discovered numerous issues he said should have been easily identified by state inspectors and rectified by the park, including an unlabeled and uncovered control panel.

"I’ve heard and seen evidence of how strict New Jersey is, but I was shocked at what I saw," he said.

Six Flags Great Adventure is a household name across the tri-state area, welcoming 3.4 million visitors in 2018, according to a report from the Themed Entertainment Association.

In May, the park announced it was hiring 4,000 workers for the 2021 season.

Since its inception, the park has been seen as an economic driver for the Jackson area — often the only thing people know about the 40-square-mile town that's still mostly rural.

Developers have piggy-backed off the park traffic for decades, building the Jackson Premium Outlets, a Wawa and other restaurants and, most recently, planning the Adventure Crossing sports and entertainment development virtually across the street.

Over the last five years, DCA inspectors have found a host of issues on the Saw Mill Log Flume, one of the few attractions still remaining from Six Flags Great Adventure's inaugural 1974 season.

In five years, the ride has gone through periodic rehab and repair, from clearing brush and small trees away from an evacuation stairway to remediating rot and rust on the columns holding it up. The DCA typically orders the park to effectuate repairs before opening the ride for the summer season.

In December 2017 a section of fiberglass chute was removed on the ride, to be replaced in May 2018, according to DCA records. There were also repairs to the steel structure of the ride at that time, according to DCA's records.

Three summers ago an unspecified "incident" compelled the park to retrain its employees working on the ride.

"Operations shall retrain the loaders for boats in proper weight distribution as per operations manual," according to a DCA report on the July 30, 2018, incident.

One car was taken out of service with a damaged anti-rollback plate afterward, according to DCA.

The most serious violation were discovered in November and December 2019, when state inspectors shut the ride down due to "major rust and corrosion" and ordered "much-needed repairs on the ride," including the replacement of 16 sections of steel and additional areas of plywood, inspection records show.

The log flume was closed for 17 months, including the entire 2020 season. Most of the repairs and replacements were completed by April, but DCA inspectors found additional rotted conduits and a loose section of wooden wall, according to inspection records.

On May 10, the ride was finally considered to be in compliance with state laws governing carnival and amusement ride safety — just 34 days before the tipped-boat incident, which led to another nearly month-long shutdown while "internal and external experts investigated the incident and a full safety inspection was completed," Fitzgerald said in the statement.

The log flume re-opened to the public on July 9, Fitzgerald said.

El Toro is a far newer ride, opening in 2006 as one of the tallest and fastest wooden roller coasters in the world.

Until the July incident, the only "red-tag" notice issued for El Toro, issued by the state when a ride must be shut down, was for a defective ground fault circuit interrupter. The ride was considered compliant as of May 10, according to inspection records.

The ride was previously red-tagged in April 2015 after inspectors found a ground fault circuit interrupter without a cover. The ride was cleared a week later.

Martin, the amusement park safety consultant, said repeated problems with ground faults should be treated as a "very serious" issue, noting that it would be a "life or death situation if someone got shocked."

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In 2009, one train was red-tagged because it lacked proper signage but the issue was cleared on the same day. In 2007, DCA inspectors shut down two rows of one train due to a lap bar malfunction, which were repaired and cleared 10 days later.

DCA inspectors found few issues with El Toro over the last five years, issuing a verbal warning last September that employees should ensure that guests don't bring loose articles onto the ride.

In June and July, inspectors found overgrown vegetation near the track and a loose handrail and tripping hazard on ramps, which employees were instructed to fix and remove.

El Toro has remained closed since June 29 but has already undergone testing and a full safety inspection by the park, Fitzgerald said.

"The train's safety systems worked as designed and no guests were injured," Fitzgerald said in a statement in response to an interview request by the Network.

"The rear up-stop wheel, which prevents the train from lifting, came up on top of the rail," DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan said. "El Toro will not reopen until the DCA is provided with a report by the ride manufacturer indicating what caused the derailment as well as how to mitigate the issue,"

According to a DCA incident report, the rear wheels of one car "came out from their normal position in the rails. The train traveled most of the ride course with the rear wheels in this position."

The incident report notes that the train's rear wheel assembly and wood and steel bolts on the track were damaged.

Lisa Ryan, a DCA spokeswoman, described the issue as a derailment, with the wheels coming up on top of the rail. Six Flags Great Adventure has disputed that characterization: Fitzgerald, the park spokeswoman, said the train's safety systems "worked as designed."

"It is one of our signature attractions, and we are working diligently to reopen the ride following testing and a full safety inspection by both internal and external experts," she said.

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is going on at any given moment. Contact him at [email protected] or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.