Crack in Fraser Valley waterslide slices multiple riders, leads to industry-wide recommendations
Safety watchdog says an 11-year-old suffered a major cut after waterslide fibreglass cracked last summer
A new report into a series of injuries at Bridal Falls Waterpark last summer has resulted in industry-wide recommendations from Technical Safety B.C., the organization that oversees the safe operation of things like waterslides in B.C.
According to the report released Tuesday, the injuries took place on the afternoon of July 14, 2024, at the waterpark in the Fraser Valley, about 50 kilometres east of Vancouver, when a crack in a section of a fibreglass tube slide opened up, resulting in a sharp edge.
The incident report says over the course of about an hour, there were three injuries of note connected to the crack.
Multiple injuries
The first was a cut foot, which resulted in a call to paramedics, after two first-aid workers were unable to control the bleeding.
"The lady seemed like she was going to faint there was so much blood," wrote a waterpark staff member in an incident report.
According to Ryan Hazlett, leader of incident investigations with Technical Safety B.C., there were some abrasions and torn swim suits before the second injury that afternoon.
That one involved a rider's foot getting caught in the crack, bending it "the wrong way," according to a staff incident report dated 30 minutes after the first injury.
The report details how the tube slide was closed due to the situation, but the people in the queue to ride were still allowed to go down the slide.
An hour after the first injury, while staff were attempting to guide people around the crack in the slide, according to the report, a 11-year-old girl was cut by the crack's edge, in what Hazlitt described as the most severe of the injuries.
A staff incident report described the girl's tube getting into the last pool on the slide when "the crack ripped her right leg" on the upper thigh. Another staff member called 911.
"It was certainly significant," said Hazlett
'Not something we take lightly'
Don Sharpe, vice president of operations with Holiday Trails Resorts, which owns the waterpark, called the incident last July unfortunate.
"We're always concerned when there's an accident," said Sharpe. "Obviously this is not something we take lightly — safety is super important to us, so we're always making sure we are being safe and our guests are being safe."
According to Hazlett, the crack opened up in the slide, which was installed in 1983, because the wood core under the fibreglass surface had rotted away and the ground below had eroded.
Technical Safety B.C. made three recommendations for the entire waterpark industry in the province as a result of its investigation into the incident:
- Waterpark owners update inspections and training, so slide defects can be detected before they become a hazard.
- That changing slide conditions over time are identified and documented, so owners can make good waterslide lifecycle management decisions.
- Waterpark owners train staff in proper hazard response procedures, including ensuring that no member of the public go down a slide where a hazard is suspected.
Sharpe said his company fully participated in the Technical Safety B.C. report.
"If there's an opportunity that we can all learn and be better, then I think that that's what we need to do," he said. "We're as concerned as everybody else about this. We don't take it lightly and we're doing everything we can to make sure we don't have this sort of thing happen again."
Hazlett said it was important to share the take-aways from this investigation with the broader industry, but it's a "very safety-conscious industry."
"It's fair for the public to have concerns about this," he said. "But here's the thing, waterslides and waterparks — thousands of people use them everyday, they do undergo a rigorous inspection schedule."