Maintenance and Operational Audits

Dear Mr. Theme Park:

I operate a mid-sized theme park in Europe.  We are now in our off-season as are many of our fellow operators.  We conduct detailed off-season inspections, but are wondering if it would be worthwhile to have an outside group come in and perform a maintenance and operational audit for us – whether in the off-season and/or during the operating season.  In your experience, is this worthwhile and, if so, how often should these outside audits be done?

Thanks.

Elisa, Europe

Dear Elisa:

Audits specifically for safety are very valuable to the well-being of the park’s assets, as well as the safety of your guests.  Equally important, they are important to the welfare of your employees.

As we all have been taught through the years, safety is the highest priority item with which we have to deal.  It is a constant, daily priority and should always be the first thing on our plate at the day’s start.  I remember well when I was General Manager of a major theme park, how every day my morning started by reading the previous day’s “safety log.”  I was always amazed to read the degree of intensity that went into the report.  It was an important part of every operating department’s daily assignment.  No item was too small to review if it appeared in that daily log.

As parks mature, additional outside audits can be very helpful to the staff in the maintenance and operations departments.  An extra “set of eyes and ears” from experts has been known to be of great assistance in examining rides and attractions.

Most parks here in the USA have several levels of safety inspection.  First, the park staff inspects all rides and attractions daily before putting them into service.  Second, insurance companies typically conduct several inspections during the operating season.  These may or may not be on an announced basis to obviously keep a park on alert.  And third, some states --- about 30 now – have state inspections which are conducted prior to the annual opening and several times during the operating season.

It is now becoming common practice for park operators to call for outside audits from private companies in order to add one more layer of inspection to the three listed above.  I have seen more and more parks moving in this direction – that is, outside inspections – during the last decade. Some parks may schedule these on a bi-annual basis, and I have seen some conduct outside inspections on a back-to-back annual schedule.

Elisa, my recommendation to you is to talk to your maintenance and operation staff.  Find out from them if they believe an outside inspection audit would assist them in their on-going management areas.  Certainly, I would rather see more inspections than one too few.  With over a billion rides taken each year in our industry by our guests, one can never be too safe.

My company has a special approach for conducting audits and inspections.  We have done these not only for park operators, but also for owners, banks, and private equity organizations.  If you determine you need some outside assistance, we would be happy to provide a quote on your program.  As you pointed out, inspections can be done during the operating season or in the off-season.  We have done both.  Quite frankly, we like to conduct audits during the operation so we can see everything (including operators) in full operating mode.

Elisa, if you are questioning the need for an outside inspection / audit, I suggest you move forward with a program to see what you learn and how valuable it was for your park.

“Ask Mr. Theme Park” is a great opportunity to pose a question regarding the leisure industry to Mr. Theme Park (aka, Dennis Speigel).  As a highly respected leader, mentor, and visionary with over 50 years of leisure experience, Mr. Theme Park has a wealth of knowledge on many different issues.

To submit a question for consideration, click here.  We will feature questions and answers every Friday.

http://www.interthemepark.com