Ian said:
I look forward to hearing the reasons behind the "human error".
My bet is that we will never know for sure, they've said their "human error" bit, and it'll be one of those things were they don't
really know the specific cause or can't explain it without it looking ridiculous... Because the reality is, it has to have been someone resetting the system, there's no other explanation.
In the height of a moment, we
all do stupid things. Changing lanes on a road without signalling, running to cross a road when you probably shouldn't, putting something in the way that you later trip over, putting flammable objects near flames, overloading power extension cords... Work H&S protocols are in place to try and reduce dumb mistakes, but we all make them whilst simultaneously mocking H&S procedures.
You can't easily explain to the public "someone overrode the system" because they freak out and ask "WHY IS THAT POSSIBLE?" Of course, it has to be possible... My printer's display screen yesterday insisted there was a paper jam. It was lying. I overrode it by turning it off and on again. Coasters are the same. My printer emergency stops itself and warns me of a paper jam with flashing lights and an error message because jammed paper could damage the printer if forced through. Coasters emergency stop themselves and warn of possible collisions when leaves flutter in front of their sensors. You NEED to be able to override all systems, because all systems, especially when preventing harm to themselves or others, are over the top. But humans must perform checks - I must look inside the printer and check there is no printer jammed before I override it, but if I'd had that error message 5 times in a row and every time I'd looked there was no jammed paper, would I override without looking on the 6th time? Probably. And what if there was an actual jam that time?
That doesn't make the system at fault, it still makes the person at fault, but I think we need to be very careful not to judge their actions, because I think all of us are capable of the same. I think it's important to reiterate that.
All coasters have the potential to get stuck like Smiler did - that's not the problem here, the problem is that someone didn't do their checks. Even if Smiler's layout was physically altered to reduce the chance of it getting stuck there, it would still be
possible for it to. In any other combination of the factors involved in the accident, there wouldn't have been an accident. This really was a stars aligning kind of incident, and we need to remember that... Even if no H&S procedures or features were added in the wake of it, it probably would never happen again. But they will be added. Many things will have changed when Smiler opens next year, and all of them will make the possibility of this reoccurring less likely.
