Volume 2, No. 2. January 25, 2002
Towering questions
Cedar Point maintenance staff were
leaving work around 3:30 p.m. (15,30) on January 14 when they noticed something
missing: one of the three 265-foot towers (80 meters) that comprise the VertiGo
thrill ride. The discovery of the collapsed tower, which had broken off 65 feet
up (20 meters), sent a disbelieving shudder through the industry.
The Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park has an impeccable safety record and has never
had a structure failure of this magnitude in memory. "Employees who have been
here 30-plus years are saying there's never been anything of this nature," said
Cedar Point Public Relations Manager Janice Witherow. Furthermore, the ride's
manufacturer, S&S Power, has a stellar safety and operational record for its
products.
As of this posting the cause of the collapse has not been determined. Two S&S
engineers arrived the day after the incident to assist with the initial evaluation.
Cedar Point also notified the Amusement Ride Safety Division of the Ohio Department
of Agriculture, which serves as the regulatory agency for amusement rides in
the state and specializes in ride inspections. Additionally,
the park has hired an outside firm to conduct non-destructive testing on the
other two towers. "That's something we do at Cedar Point anyway in the spring
as part of our preventative maintenance program," Witherow said.
While Witherow professes a feeling of good fortune that the accident occurred
in the off season—"We're incredibly thankful that we are closed and there
were no injuries," she said—and described the mood around the park as "unsettled
but determined to come up with a conclusion," she also believes such an accident
could only have happened in the off-season. "We're confident that had the park
been open, because of our intensive daily inspection program with internal experts
climbing the tower looking for things like this, it would have been discovered
ahead of time. We're also confident that during the springtime, when we're doing
ultrasound and X-rays on steel structures to test the integrity of the steel,
this is something that would have been caught."
As such, she said, the park is planning no changes to its maintenance and safety
programs, at least until the collapse's cause is determined. Nevertheless, the
incident reiterated the need for such thorough measures as both Cedar Point
and S&S themselves implement. It also drove home the need for a crisis response,
even in the off-season. Cedar Point immediately notified its sister park, Knott's
Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, as well as Six Flags Magic Mountain in
Valencia, California—both of which are year-round operations—who shut
their versions of the ride until their towers could be inspected.