'It wasn't a fatality; It was negligence', says expert on the death of a man on a zip line on a beach in Ceará

Technical standards auditor pointed out aspects not considered in toy safety. Assembly and maintenance of equipment of this type must be supported by a document drawn up by engineers, pointed out the Fire Department.

Tourist filmed his own zip line fall in Canoa Quebrada before dying in the fall

The fall of a tourist from a zip line on a beach in Ceará, which resulted in the death of the man from Pará , was considered negligence by Vinícius Martins, businessman and markets director at the Brazilian Association of Ecotourism and Adventure Tourism Companies (Abeta). This Tuesday (25) images recorded by the victim at the time of the fall were released , analyzed by the specialist.

From Vinícius Martins' perspective, the case in Aracati was "a primary, unacceptable error ". The death occurred on October 10, when the equipment's support beam broke.

"It was not a fatality; it was negligence on the part of those operating the equipment. There was certainly no calculation report, [the base] was not designed for this. You come from a field of malpractice, recklessness and negligence to say that it was a fatality ", he stressed.

The zip line, an equipment in which the user slides on a suspended cable without touching the ground, is a common toy on beaches in Ceará. Such a structure, however, needs to be built safely, which did not happen in the case of the equipment, according to the expert.

According to him, also a volunteer at the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT) and ISO 21-101 auditor for technical standards, there was a civil problem , as specificities of the dune soil were not considered.

"The foundation block broke, came forward, was not calculated and fell. It's a structural calculation problem", he assessed, after seeing the video of the accident, released by g1 .

"There was no calculation memorial. The effort that this structure makes was not calculated, which is called a 'moment' in engineering, and the foundation block came forward."

The expert believes that safety elements such as the belt and connectors were in agreement, suitable for practice, but he would need to analyze them to have a more concrete opinion. However, the lack of a helmet — a mandatory item — also signaled a lack of compliance with the requirements for using the equipment.

Implementing rules

The director of Abeta pointed out that, for a zipline to be built, there is a set of eight technical standards, which deal with construction, operation and maintenance. Of these eight, one is focused exclusively on equipment engineering, ABNT NBR 15508-1, considered by Martins as the main one.

"You have other operating standards. If this standard had been met, this accident would certainly not have occurred."

Among the technical standards, there is also ISO 21-101 , a "mother standard" for adventure tourism activities, in the entrepreneur's words. This defines the requirements for Safety Management Systems (SGS).

The implementation of SGS is provided for in mechanisms such as the General Tourism Law and the Consumer Protection Code (CDC), pointed out the standard's auditor. In it, item 9.4 defines that ziplines over 300 meters long between two points must have two steel cables.

Smaller ziplines can, yes, have just one cable, but this, in the expert's opinion, would not characterize the "best practice" for using the structure. In this case, the best practice would be defined by extra care, beyond the minimum required in the standards, when using equipment.

read more here  https://g1.globo.com/ce/ceara/noticia/2022/10/25/nao-foi-fatalidade-foi-negligencia-analisa-especialista-sobre-morte-de-homem-em-tirolesa-em-praia-do-ceara.ghtml