A damning engineer’s report placed blame for last summer’s amusement park ride accident on faulty repair work and the lack of a proper inspection.
The car on the Scorpion ride fell off its arm in mid-air during last year’s Stampede, injuring 10 and sending several children to hospital.
“Review of the available background information revealed that fatigue cracks had previously been found at the failure location,” the report read. “These cracks had been improperly repaired by simply welding over the crack. The repair was so poorly done that original crack still remained and portions of the crack extended beyond the end of the repair.”
The report said that the inspection was to be carried out by the owner, North American Midway Entertainment.
“These particular inspections were not performed on this Scorpion ride. Apparently, the owner’s inspections subsequent to the weld repair did not look at the failure area very closely, if it all,” said the report.
The faulty repair, which covered a two-year-old crack, would have been visible to inspectors, the report added.
After an ongoing Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) request by the Calgary Herald, the government released the four-month old report to the public on Thursday.
The report also announced several new rules for improving the safety of amusement park rides.
Midway owners will now have to keep on-site inspection reports from anywhere the ride has operated in the last five years. They will also have to complete a safety checklist for each ride and make sure testing and repairs are done right away if defects are found.
The Alberta government says no charges will be laid against the operator of the Scorpion ride.
A civil lawsuit is believed to have been filed.
With files from The Canadian Press
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