FRANCEEN GONZALES
VP of business development WhiteWater West Industries
What safety committees are you involved with? IAAPA Safety Committee, ASTM international board of directors, and National Swimming Pool Foundation board of directors.
How does your background assist with this work? I’ve spent 27 years operating amusement parks, waterparks, resorts and FECs, focusing mainly on safety and risk management. Understanding how parks operate, how rides and devices work, and how employees and guests interact with rides and devices gives an understanding of what is real- istic, reasonable, and address- es risk in these environments.
What’s the current focus with regards to safety in water park rides? There are standards through EN and ASTM on waterslides and now we have one on aquatic play. We’re currently focusing on sprays in play environments, fall protection on waterslides, netting in aquatic play, stationary waves and wave pools. Sprays are of interest to minimise injuries from water impacts to the face and eyes. Several companies
www.attractionshandbook.com
Gonzales, WhiteWater West
now sell stationary waves and some minimum standards should be developed as more products come into the mar- ket. Wave pools have always been considered a pool, but the mechanism that creates the wave is of interest to minimise certain risks inherent to these environments.
What challenges face the industry at the moment? Not so much a challenge but an opportunity − there’s a lot of growth right now and employing minimum standards, especially in areas where waterparks are new, will help operators and manufacturers minimise risk to guests and employees. There’s a learning curve for new operators − minimum standards help to start them off on the right foot.
What are the main recent safety improvements? The work that has gone into harmonising standards world- wide. Previously manufacturers had several local standards
There are now standards through EN and ASTM on waterslides
to consider when designing, changing from locale to locale. With harmonisation, we take the best and most reasonable standard and make that the new standard for all. EN and ASTM have been
working to harmonise amusement ride and de- vice standards and that will encourage others to do so. ASTM provided a forum for Canada to write its own standards using an ASTM designation with F24
standards, customised to accommodate Canada-specifi c requirements. This will become the model for other countries to use ASTM F24 standards and develop their own to meet local needs, and meanwhile have access to the most robust set of standards for the industry written by accom- plished experts. This means that as the industry grows globally, we’re all using the latest standards to establish a baseline for industry safety. ●
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