BRISTOL -- The banners at Lake Compounce say ”170 years of fun”, and while that may be the case, they go through a lot of effort to ensure that all of those years of fun, also have up to date safety.
A child dangling from a ride at Six Flags Great Escape in Lake George over the weekend, is exactly what General Manager Jerry Brick doesn’t want to happen at Lake Compounce – but if it did – he’s ready,
“Safety is the number one priority – it’s our culture here – we focus on that every day.
To keep the rides rolling safely takes a lot of daily effort. “First thing in the morning our maintenance crew – going to every ride – walking the wooden roller coaster, we are going to running the rides, checking the restraints, mechanicals to the ride – that’s all done before we open the gates."
Each ride, big or small, is watched, but bigger rides, like the newly installed Phobia, are dotted with hundreds of sensors. “There are sensors as you launch, as you get to the top, when you come over, and in the station – so there are sensors throughout the ride.”
And if one goes down, the ride stops – even in mid-ride. Brick says they’ve not had to rescue stranded passengers, which is what happened last month at Six Flags Over Texas, after a safety stoppage stranded riders overnight . Brick says that could happen here, but plans are not only in place with local authorities – they too are kept constantly up to date.
When asked if he worries every time an accident happens “We want to know what happened…we want to get the information, and then we’ll look at our procedures…we may not change a thing, but we may something because we’re always trying to evolve to make this property safer.”
Even though guests don’t come here all year long, the safety measures are inspected year round, in fact during the off season, the cars come off the tracks, the tracks are inspected, and not just for the coasters, all of the rides here are inspected closely, so that their impeccable safety record, stays that way.
