Disney employees found at fault in fatal monorail crash

Leah Zanolla | Posted: Oct 31, 2011 | Updated: Oct 19, 2014 - 9:25:27 AM

The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) has found Walt Disney World at fault in the fatal monorail crash that occurred July 5, 2009. The accident that happened in the early morning hours claimed the life of 21-year-old monorail pilot Austin Wuennenberg. According to the report, the responsibility belongs to one of the monorail's panel operators and one of its managers, along with the theme park for not having standard operating procedures in place for the monorail system. The at-fault monorail panel operator was attending to a report of a door malfunction at the time of the accident; the malfunction distracted him from shifting the tracks for Wuennenberg's incoming train, which then crashed into another train backing into the station in error. The manager that authorized this switch was offsite, therefore not able to verify that the tracks were clear. Disney was previously fined $7,000 by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for safety violations that allegedly led to the crash. They have since put standard operating procedures into place for all monorail operations.