The Tom Anstey Column


www.parkworld-online.com


Crisis communication


For an industry where safety is crucial on so many fundamental levels, it’s always a shock when something goes horribly wrong. Tom Anstey explains how attractions  the industry is going badly wrong when it comes to handling these events on the public front…


I


t was October 12th when a father of two  be leaving. It was at Six Flags Over Georgia


where 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem was  rollercoaster, resulting in his death in an accident that also saw four children injured and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Authorities in Georgia are still investigating the


 has closed nine similar rollercoasters across six of its parks in the US. 


 disaster.  


26


   to see when it searches its own name online. In the immediate aftermath, Six Flags released


a statement: 


at one of our parks. Our thoughts and heartfelt    


at Six Flags scoured and approved, but also one you could sadly apply to almost any tragedy of   empathetic.


‘The right thing to do’  accidents. I am not a ride safety expert, and there  the technical and operational measures needed to keep guests safe.  working as a journalist in this industry, is the difference between a generic PR response and one that feels as though the people behind it genuinely understand the impact of their words.  period for Six Flags, which was also forced to close its Millennium Force coaster at Cedar Point just a few days later after a metal bracket detached from one of  in this incident, nobody was struck or injured.


NOVEMBER/DECEMBER IAAPA EXPO EDITION 2026


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68