The former head of the Dreamworld engineering department didn’t bother fitting a backup water pump for the Thunder River Rapids ride, an inquest has heard.

November 22, 2018

Dreamworld’s former engineering boss did not consider installing a backup water pump on a ride that later killed four people despite other theme parks doing it for their version of the attraction. 

Bob Tan, former general manager of engineering at the Gold Coast tourist attraction, on Thursday told an inquest into the deaths Dreamworld chose not to fit a “fail-safe” pump to the Thunder River Rapids. 

Mr Tan had previously been made aware the now-defunct Wonderland theme park in Sydney had fitted a similar pump to their version of the ride, but told coroner James McDougall that was because their ride was different. 

“It was not possible given the physical layout of how (the) Dreamworld (ride) had been built,” he said.

Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi died in October 2016 when a water pump on the Thunder River Rapids failed. 

It caused water levels to drop and their raft to flip after colliding with another raft that became stuck. 

The long-running inquest has previously heard that the water pump had malfunctioned on October 19, 22, 23 and twice in the hours before the October 25 tragedy. 

None of those failures were investigated. 

Mr Tan, affectionately known among Dreamworld staff as the “oracle” because of the 28 years he’d worked at the park, also overlooked major modifications to the ride as posing a safety risk.

He said the removal of slats from the ride’s conveyor belt took place before he started working at the park and so didn’t seen an issue with the changes.

“I was not involved in removing them but I assumed whatever had to be done was done,” he said.

“Nobody reported they had a concern, so I didn’t do what I didn’t know.”

He presumed safety analysis was carried out before the slats were removed but never found proof that it had been. 

The inquest has previously heard the removal of the slats from the conveyor belt introduced a hazard, but Mr Tan assumed it complied with basic engineering and safety standards.

“There was never any reason for me to suspect it was not,” he said.

Mr Tan agreed when asked if he could now identify issues arising from the modifications, along with a suggestion from counsel assisting Ken Flemming QC that the slats were likely taken out because they were causing the conveyor to jam.

He said it was possible staff had removed them to cut the weight being driven by the motor, rather than upgrading to a more powerful model. 

Mr Tan resigned from Dreamworld in January 2016.