See the update at the end of this post on Disneyland's Space Mountain remaining closed, a contractor being fined and other rides reopening.
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ORIGINAL POST, APRIL 15, 9:13 A.M.: M-I-C . . .
. . . See you at the bottom!
Following citations by the state Friday over concerns about workers falling from tall attractions, Disney closed the Matterhorn and Space Mountain at Disneyland and Soarin' Over California at California Adventure on Saturday.
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The Matterhorn reopened Sunday. It's unclear this morning when the other two rides will be back online.
The closures were volunteer and made with an abundance of caution after the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health citations questioned employee safety protocols, according to Suzy Brown, the Anaheim Disney Resort spokeswoman.
The citations stem from a
contracted worker falling and injuring himself in November while performing maintenance on the Space Mountain exterior.
Disney was faulted for inadequately correcting “known fall hazards,” according to
the citation description on the Cal/OSHA website. “Furthermore, Disneyland Resort failed to have approved anchorages or
approved tie-backs for contract employees to attach to when performing
scheduled exterior building maintenance.”
UPDATE, APRIL 22, 1:16 P.M.: Cal/OSHA on Friday levied a $60,995 fine against Los Angeles-based HSG Inc. for a safety violation involving one of its cleaning workers falling from Space Mountain at Disneyland last year.
The 37-year-old worker suffered several broken bones in the fall from the ride that will remain closed through at least Wednesday as the theme park reevaluates employee safety protocols, according to Disney.
Meanwhile, besides the previously reported reopening of the Matterhorn over similar fall-safety concerns, Soarin' Over California at California Adventure has been back online since Friday morning, the resort disclosed.
During that ride's closure, the second Anaheim theme park's California Screamin' roller coaster closed briefly for an inspection, but it too has since reopened.
HSG Inc. and Disney can appeal their respective fines, according to Cal/OSHA.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.
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