How does iROC Third-Party Certification Benefit You?

Safety

Studies show that amusement park injuries are primarily caused not by mechanical failure of an amusement ride, but by guest misconduct or, less frequently, operator error.  iROC reduces the opportunity for guest misconduct by ensuring that operators are paying appropriate attention and proactively taking steps to prevent misconduct before it starts.  Moreover, iROC operators are trained to actively manage and control the entire ride cycle from beginning to end, reducing the opportunity for boredom and careless errors in operation.

 

Reduced Turnover

Turnover is a constant and expensive issue in the amusement industry.  Just finding a new employee to replace one that quit, training them, and dealing with the loss of productivity until that employee gets up to speed is estimated to cost a park at least an additional 16% of that position’s annual wage.  In real world terms, a park with only a $1 million ride operations labor budget with 35% turnover, can expect to spend at least $56,000 every year just to replace employees that quit.  iROC helps you reduce those costs effectively and economically.  As a third-party certification built on a structured and focused approach to safety, efficiency, and professionalism, iROC gives your team members a “sense of purpose in their work,” and helps employees understand that “the things they’re doing – no matter how seemingly inconsequential – matter a great deal,” two factors vital to improving retention of young workers in today’s marketplace. 


Standardization

In the wake of an unfortunate incident in the amusement industry, an oft-repeated theme in media reports is the lack of standardization in amusement regulation.  iROC provides consistent operational standards for safe, professional, and efficient operation regardless of where the facility is located.  For multi-park systems, iROC bridges the gap created by local regulation, giving your guests and your team members confidence that the rides they experience at one park will be subject to the same operating standards across the entire chain.  For standalone parks, FEC’s or mobile shows, iROC instills in your guests confidence that your rides are being operated according to a global set of standards absent under the current system of regulation.

 

Risk Management

With iROC’s increased attention to guest and employee safety comes potential significant savings in terms of liability risk and defense costs.  According to studies, the median personal injury jury award in the United States is over $1 million and facilities can expect to spend another $1 million, or more, solely on the administrative costs of a lawsuit including employee time, lost profits and productivity, and lost opportunities.  Those costs are not insured and come directly from your bottom line.  The iROC program gives you the training and assessment tools necessary to help you avoid these expensive and time-consuming claims.  Avoiding even one such claim, saves your facility substantial expense and pays for the iROC program many times over.

 

Support and Communication

iROC facilities are bound together by more than common corporate ownership or membership in industry trade groups.  IRT facilitates communication between facilities to ensure an open dialog and safety innovation regardless of corporate affiliation.  iROC facilities do not hesitate to communicate with one another when safety in on the line.  And that is good for the entire industry.

 

Education

iROC clients are invited to the annual iROC Safety School, “Ride Camp”, the primary means of attaining and maintaining iROC Instructor Certification.  This week-long school is hosted by an iROC facility each year and provides unparalleled in-depth continuing education focused exclusively on ride operations.  Taught by distinguished faculty from some of the leading amusement facilities in the world, the iROC Safety School does something that no other conference in the amusement industry does:  provides a fun, educational, immersive, and singularly focused experience devoted entirely to ride operations training and performance. 

Sources quoted:

See Heather Boushey and Sara Jane Glynn, “There are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees,” Center for American Progress (Nov. 16, 2016), available at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2012/11/16/44464/there-are-significant-business-costs-to-replacing-employees/.

 

In 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, turnover rate across the leisure and hospitality industry due to workers quitting their positions was approximately 35%.  See Boushey and Glynn, supra, note 2.

 

See Tamara Lytle, “HR Tips for Managing Teen Workers,” Society for Human Resources Management (April 16, 2018), available at https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0518/pages/hr-tips-for-managing-teen-workers.aspx; Francesco Nicasio, “The Cost and Causes of Employee Turnover (and How to Reduce It), Vend Blog (June 28, 2016), available at https://www.vendhq.com/blog/the-cost-and-causes-of-employee-turnover.

 

See Thomason Reuters, Current Award Trends in Personal Injury, 55th ed; Polinsky and Shavell, The Uneasy Case for Product Liability, 123 Harv. L. Rev. 1437, 1470 (2010); Tort Liability Costs for Small Businesses, U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, July 2010, Executive Summary, July 2010 at 6.