This review involves an accident at the AdventureWorks Zipline Forest at Nashville North (Fontanel/Whites Creek Pike) on November 21, 2021. The accident was 100% due to the Adventureworks guides not following their company’s safety procedures.
Our party included 2 adults and 4 youth ages 7 to 12. Upon arrival, no one asked us for age, weight or any other particulars about the group.
A serious collision of two zipliners occurred at the Nashville North location in the past year – multiple broken bones involved. As a result, the company made changes to the zipline platform procedures to ensure that the line is clear before each participant is released. Or that’s what we were told.
Our party included a 57-pound 8-year-old. He was not heavy enough to make it to the end of Line #7. He got stuck, and the 2 guides did not communicate properly, so the releasing guide was unaware that the line was not clear. While the 8-year-old was still dangling on the line, an adult female was released, resulting in a collision. Fortunately, the child could hear the adult female approaching, so he curled into a ball, and avoided broken bones – just soreness the next day.
At the end of the tour, I asked to meet with the guides so I could understand what had happened. One guide said nothing at all. The other guide munched on a snack while he nonchalantly described what happened. He said all he heard was “static” on his walkie-talkie device, which was his way of acknowledging he had no idea if the line was clear or not when he released the adult female. He did not apologize.
Two essential pieces of advice, Adventureworks: (1) take customer safety seriously because you really don’t. And (2) adopt some decent and affordable technology so your guides can communicate with each other from platform to platform. On top of that, you and the owners of Fontanel might invest in cameras to minimize the smash and grab car break-ins that seem to plague the parking lot.
It’s been more than a week, and I haven’t heard a peep from these people. A call to inquire about the 8-year-old would be in order. Which makes me wonder how often this sort of thing happens there.