Amusement & Water Park Negligence: Who Is Responsible?
Guest safety in a theme park setting should always come first and be at the top of the establishment’s list of priorities. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and when careless actions or efforts are carried out by owners or employees, people do get hurt. Common negligence leading to accidents and injuries include:
- Poorly maintained rides or buildings
- Ride operators under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Defects in rides
- Slippery surface areas
- Equipment or other articles that obstruct walkways
- Dimly lit areas like parking lots where assaults can take place
- Doors or gates left unlocked that can permit access to dangerous areas
Amusement and water park injuries are caused by:
- Operator behavior
- Mechanical failure
- Design defects
- Inherent nature of the ride
- Negligent supervision
- Poor maintenance
- Missing safety equipment
Florida has theme parks that are world-famous, required to have routine safety inspections, and highly trained employees operating the rides. However, even if safety precautions are performed regularly, accidents still happen. Injuries at theme parks can be deadly due to extreme heights and momentous speeds reached within seconds flat.
Responsibility for amusement park injury cases may fall under premises liability, product liability, or both. Depending on the circumstances, the legal responsibility for the injuries at an amusement or water park could be attributed to:
- The amusement park owner
- The ride operator
- A concession stand owner
- The ride designer or manufacturer
Most of the amusement or water park injury cases are settled out of court because the owners try to conceal them from the public's audience. Amusement parks call for extra care from the equipment manufacturers, owners, or operators when it comes to ensuring the safety of visitors and minimizing any risk of injury and drowning. Product liability cases are not based on negligence, but strict liability and they address accidents caused by:
- Unreasonably dangerous design
- Manufacturing defects
- Description of the product (insufficiently marked for danger)
If any of these issues caused injuries to a visitor, he or she might file a claim. Defective product claims have to prove a direct connection between the defective component of the ride and the injuries caused.
Injured Theme Park Workers: Legal Rights
Amusement, water parks, and carnivals function based on outsourced workers who maintain the grounds and operate the rides. Such jobs include:
- Ticket attendants
- Cleaning staff
- Ride and game operators
- Costumed characters
- Repairmen
All contracted workers are susceptible to injuries while performing their jobs. Most of the time, park employees don't have regular compensation coverage as regular employees would. In case of an accident, park workers may be eligible to file a lawsuit. Zoo, Safari park, and animal park employees are also at high risk of injuries. Animals are unpredictable and can suddenly harm their caregivers or groundskeepers (for example in 2012, a trainer died after an orca whale dragged her under the water).
Owners are responsible for a safe work environment, meaning ensuring that:
- Employees and outsourced workers are properly trained to operate the rides
- The appropriate security controls and measures are in place
- Machines and other equipment are properly functional
If you worked in an amusement park, water park, theme park, fair, or a festival and got injured call us to see if you have a case. Also, family members of an employee that was killed at a theme park may seek financial compensation through legal recourse.
