Three years after brass at Rye Playland were warned that inattentive, safety-flouting employees were making rides increasingly dangerous, little has changed at the Westchester amusement park, The Post has learned.
A Fourth of July spot-check of the embattled county-owned park found several instances of Playland employees blatantly ignoring policies – including skipping basic safety checks, failing to monitor rides and riders and socializing with other workers.
The findings mirror those of a little-publicized safety audit, issued in August 2004 – after 7-year-old Stephanie Dieudonne was killed on the Mind Scrambler ride – that cited numerous employee problems, along with a management team that “appears to tune out many day-to-day operational issues.”
Since the scathing report, two more people have died, including on-duty employee Gabriela Garin, 21, who was flung to her death on the Mind Scrambler on June 29.
The Post investigation found employees paid little to no attention to patrons, even the elderly, as they boarded and rode the rides.
With few exceptions, operators routinely ignored height requirements, rarely gave verbal instruction or directions on rides that warrant safety warnings and seemed to disregard standard practices set by management.
In one galling incident, two teenage workers, both in uniform, spent several minutes at a concession stand engaging in an expletive-filled conversation about another employee – in full earshot of a dozen young kids.
In another incident, a group of workers passed a box of doughnuts back and forth while working a ride. Employee regulations prohibit eating and drinking on the job.
Playland workers also put themselves in danger, hopping across tracks and equipment pathways while rides were loading, operating or unloading.
Traveling through the park, The Post also found two fences with gaps big enough for children to slip through.
Alerted to the potential dangers, Dan McBride, Playland’s assistant operations director, noted, “The things brought to our attention will be taken care of immediately.”
In 2004, an audit by Jerry Aldrich, president of Amusement Industry Consulting, warned the park that in “turning their backs” while employees broke rules, Playland management “is traveling down a slippery slope.”
Among the potential dangers the report found:
* Keys left in the ignitions of unattended rides that could make it “quite easy” for visitors to start them.
* Obstructed views of rides for employees responsible for watching them.
* Workers violating policy by leaving their assigned rides during operation to socialize.
* Employees eating and drinking on the job, even running to Burger King during a ride cycle.
* Operators failing to monitor rides while they were in motion.
* Workers who routinely ignored rider height and/or weight safety guidelines.
* Rides that did not have the recommended number of attendants.
* A lack of safety warnings posted or verbally given by employees.
County officials said they made changes based on the report, including hiring a new operations manager, increasing management supervision of employees, and improving and replacing signs.
The Post found improvements made after Aldrich’s report, including the upgrade of a fence that the safety expert had feared was wide enough for a child to pass through. Several unlocked gates to restricted areas, through which Aldrich had easily passed, were also securely shut.
There was also a mandated police presence, which was lacking when Aldrich visited.