Dreamworld tragedy footage played at inquest into four deaths on ride

The coroner, lawyers, and the victims' family members who chose to stay were shown the footage on Thursday afternoon in a brief session before the inquest was re-opened to the public.

The inquest is investigating the October 2016 Thunder River Rapids ride incident, which killed Sydney mother Cindy Low, Canberra visitor Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi.

One electrician told the court a directive from Dreamworld team leaders told ride operators to shut down a ride only if it had three consecutive faults in one day, contradicting an official breakdown procedure document.

Electrical mechanic Jacob Wilson told the inquiry that the three-strike system was drilled into employees “daily”.

However, the park’s written breakdown policy stated that if there was a repeat of a fault twice in 24 hours, the ride had to be shut down until "the engineering supervisor has been notified and given authority to rectify the problem".

Dreamworld staff had earlier told the inquiry they all were told to shut down rides if they had the same fault three times in a row on the same day.

The Thunder River Rapids ride had two pump failures on October 25, the day of the tragedy, which were resolved in the morning.

A third failure, which rapidly drained water from the ride, occurred just minutes before the raft carrying the visitors hit another empty raft at the end of the conveyor and flipped over, killing the four adults.

Asked by counsel assisting the inquiry Rhiannon Helsen if the engineering team at Dreamworld were ever “stretched thin” in responding to ride faults and problems, Mr Wilson said “yes”.

Mr Wilson said he had participated in emergency drills around the park before and after the tragedy, including simulated emergency situations on other rides.

Previous Dreamworld staff had told the inquest they had not had any practical emergency training or participated in simulations or drills.

Under questioning from barrister Matthew Hickey representing the Low family, Mr Wilson admitted a system of labelling electrical boards at Dreamworld with handwritten notes - one from 2003 very faded - “could be better”.

As other Dreamworld employees who appeared at the inquest earlier had also testified, Mr Wilson said he was unaware of the time difference between the shutdown button at the ride’s main operator control panel and the e-stop button at the unload area.

The main shutdown button would have taken about nine seconds for the ride to stop, while the e-stop button cut electricity to the conveyor belt within two seconds.

The tragedy occurred after the day’s third electrical fault in the south pump saw the water level on the Thunder River Rapids ride drop, while the conveyor continued to move.

Mr Hickey asked if there was any device that could have been installed on the ride to immediately stop the conveyor in the event of a water pump failure.

“Yes,” Mr Wilson said.

Asked if he had ever reported any potential hazards on the Thunder River Rapids ride to supervisors, Mr Wilson said he had told his supervisor that electrical controls weren’t isolated correctly.

In response, he said he was told: “that’s the way attractions wanted it”.

Another Dreamworld electrician, Francoire De Villiers, told the court on Thursday afternoon that the three trip events on the south pump rang “alarm bells”.

After resetting the pump from an earth fault on the morning of the tragedy, Mr De Villiers contacted his supervisor, who told him to give the pump a full test the next day.

On the day of the incident, Mr De Villiers was the ‘park technician’, working in an overarching role of responding to all code 6 call-outs to rides. The inquiry heard earlier in the week that a code 6 was radio call indicating a ride was shut down as a result of a problem.

Mr De Villiers was issued a "final written warning" following an incident on the Log Ride several weeks before the tragedy.

The court was also shown a photograph of the wiring under the main operating console for the Thunder River Rapids ride, described in a report as a "rat's nest".

Under questioning from barrister Matthew Hickey, Mr De Villiers said he had raised the messy wiring with supervisors and he believed it was scheduled to be upgraded before the tragedy.

After giving evidence, an emotional Mr De Villiers offered his "sincerest condolences" to the families of the four victims.

The inquest continues.