Disney's Safety Report

Disney's Safety Report represents a massive public relations effort that is long overdue.  The bulk of the report showcases things that Disney has always done well.  Nobody disputes their technical excellence or their eye for detail.  Their innovation is legendary.  The Safety Report puts all that down on paper.

The "cultural shift" is Disney's willingness to acknowledge that accidents happen on their rides.  It is both a giant step forward and a sign of how far we still have to go in terms of creating public accountability and a credible accident prevention program for thrill rides.  Can you imagine Ford Motor Company or American Airlines holding a 3-hour press conference in the year 2002 to make the startling announcement that customers are sometimes hurt in cars and airplanes?

Disney's report does, however, make it possible to have a conversation about accident prevention.  That has been my largest frustration, both in my personal dealings with Disney and my public work through Saferparks.  It is impossible to talk about prevention strategies with a company that won't admit accidents happen.  This has been a problem with the industry as a whole, by the way.  I don't know how far Disney is willing to go in terms of discussing their accidents, or whether the rest of the industry will follow their lead, but we'll never get anywhere if the amusement ride industry continues to bring every conversation on safety back to a self-congratulatory tally of the patrons who don't get hurt.  Businesses that cannot discuss their failures are doomed to repeat them.

In an interview with Amusement Business magazine, Disney's new Chief Safety Officer explained why the company decided to publish the Safety Report.  "Disney is known for its storytelling, so now we are using that magic to tell our [safety] story."  Like any Disney story, the Safety Report is an engaging mixture of fact and fantasy.  Disney spins quite a pleasant little fiction around Florida's regulatory exemption, going so far as to call the Reedy Creek Improvement District a government agency.  Just as you can't debate prevention with a company that refuses to acknowledge accidents, you can't debate public accountability with a company that calls a handful of its own executives a "government agency".

The Safety Report says that all new rides must be approved by "state qualified" safety inspectors prior to opening for the public.  All that means in Florida is that the state has agreed Disney's employees are qualified.  I think they're qualified, too, but they're not impartial.  That's the point of regulatory inspections, to let someone who's not paid by the park verify that the rides are safe for the general public.  We don't let American Airlines police their own plane crashes, and we shouldn't let Disney police their own roller coaster accidents.

Disney's report talks about the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Disney/Universal/Busch as a form of regulatory oversight.  It's not.  The memo was written by lawyers from Disney/Universal/Busch without any public input.  The parks defined the terms.  There is no enforcement provision.  Even if Disney/Universal/Busch decide to voluntarily report a fatality or injury accident to the state, they've said that they're not going to identify the victim or allow the state to investigate.  The accident reports are one-sided stories carefully crafted by the parks to create a favorable safety image and preserve the federal and state regulatory exemptions.

Disney's report includes a lot of detail about their design, operation, and maintenance processes, which is reassuring in a general sense.  But the report does not give any real information on accidents.  Disney explains the procedures for pre-opening inspections and describes "a day in the life of an attraction maintenance team", but the company doesn't discuss their post-accident response: 

• How do the self-regulated parks in Florida respond to accidents?
• How long does it take to get paramedics or a trained rescue crew to an injured guest?
• How does the Chief Safety Officer plan to investigate accidents, analyze the findings, and disseminate the information?
• When Disney investigates a serious accident at their self-regulated parks in Florida, do they talk with the accident victims and non-employee witnesses?
• Does Disney share safety-related information within the industry so that other parks, carnivals, and manufacturers can learn how to avoid similar accidents?
• If Disney finds that patron behavior was responsible for a serious accident at a self-regulated park in Florida, does the company share that information with the public so that patrons can learn how to avoid similar accidents?

The only real complaint I've had with the Walt Disney Company is the secrecy and self-rule surrounding accidents.  I don't expect to see those questions discussed in a color glossy brochure, but I would like to see the company move toward an answer.  I'd like to see Disney lead this industry in developing a credible method of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating failure information so that repeat accidents are eliminated.  Greg Hale has the training and experience to accomplish that -- if he's given a corporate mandate do so. 

Bottom line, the Disney Safety Report is both a powerful corporate PR campaign and a step toward productive public dialogue about accident prevention.  I think the company is making a sincere effort to find a way of communicating safety information without damaging the fantasy that makes Disney parks unique.  It's a delicate balance, though.  Part of the Disney experience depends on the patron's willingness to suspend disbelief and enter fully into the fantasy.  How do you lose yourself in a fantasy, yet pay careful attention to safety at the same time?  It's hard enough for adults to separate fantasy from reality at Disneyland.  Imagine how hard it is for a kid.  When children walk through the gates of Disneyland, they believe they're in a magical place where elephants fly and pirates do battle and ghosts ride in the seat next to you.  How do you teach mechanical cause-and-effect to a spellbound 4-year-old -- or his equally spellbound parent? 

One way is to incorporate safety lessons into the fantasy.  Get Mickey and Goofy to show kids the safe way to ride.  Kids and parents are more likely to pay attention if safety instruction is part of the entertainment experience.  It sounds like Disney is moving in that direction. 

Child-friendly ride design combined with increased public awareness about common causes of accidents is the best prevention strategy for young children.  If patrons are better informed about safety issues before they walk through the gates, there's a better chance that they'll read the signs and understand what to watch out for.  If the rides are designed to put physical barriers between children and mechanical hazards, then there's more room for parents and children to safely lose themselves in the fantasy. 

As I've said before, the best solution is to move both ends toward the middle, to create child-safe rides and ride-safe children.  Disney's Safety Report represents movement toward the middle.  Three cheers for Mickey Mouse!