UPDATE (SEPT. 24): Tennessee Department of Labor officials notified Navitat Canopy Adventure Thursday of nine remedial actions the company must take before the state will reinstate its permit to operate its adventure course at Ijams Nature Center. The treetop challenge course has been closed since a patron died after becoming entangled in his safety equipment there in July.
According to an email sent by Kim Jefferson, administrator of the department’s Workplace Regulations and Compliance Division, the actions include:
1. Updating the company’s operations manual, including emergency procedures and accident reporting requirements.
2. Submitting documentation of employee training in correct course operations and emergency procedures, listing the employees and dates of training.
3. Providing a sample daily checklist to be used to ensure all lines and elements have been checked, tested and inspected daily prior to use.
4. Providing record of harness purchase and projected retirement dates.
5. Obtaining an updated “As-built” letter, including changes to the course since the accident, and submitting it to the state.
6. Providing installation reports and receipts showing that all equipment listed in the last inspection report has been received and installed, especially tree tethers that were unavailable for testing.
7. Having the qualified third-party inspector who conducted the last inspection sign a conflict-of-interest disclosure form (to prove she had no financial interest in the enterprise).
8. Erecting signs to deter trespassers and unauthorized use of the course.
9. Providing a notarized statement that all these actions have been completed.
“The sooner the company does so, the sooner the company can receive authorization to resume business,” Jefferson stated in a Thursday email to Dylan Burt, Navitat chief operating officer.
RELATED: Remedial actions (PDF)
***
The state last week received an inspection report of changes to the Navitat Canopy Adventure course at Ijams Nature Center and is likely to decide in the next week whether the attraction is safe to re-open after a patron died there in July. The course alterations passed inspection, although Navitat had not finished installing all replacement equipment planned.
Asheville-based Navitat, founded in 2010, opened its Knoxville location July 17. Five days later, an 18-year-old Georgia man named Gregory Horan fell and became entangled in his Navitat safety equipment. He died a week later. A third-party inspection afterward found that the equipment was unsafe due to a design flaw and poor compatibility between elements in the safety system, issues Navitat and the inspector said were unprecedented in the industry. The state suspended Navitat’s permit to operate.
Navitat, whose Asheville adventure courses include a set of racing ziplines between mountain peaks, fully intends to reopen its Knoxville location, says Chief Operating Officer Dylan Burt. The process has taken months because the company replaced all the belay systems on the treetop course, he says.
The state is not in a rush, either.
“We’ve been taking our time with this case because of the significance of the fatality,” says Kim Jefferson, administrator for the Tennessee Department of Labor Workplace Regulations and Compliance Division. “I want to go over it with a fine-toothed comb. (This week) I’ll know whether we’ll be asking for more remedial action before reopening. I’d rather for them to achieve additional compliance, to be sure we do all we can do to be sure no one else loses their life as a result of this type of accident.”
The Navitat course consists of six “trails” between trees. Bridges, ziplines, swings, nets, and other elements are built 10 to 60 feet in the air.
The course is near the visitors’ center of the non-profit Ijams; in fact, Navitat’s customer front desk greets visitors before they even reach the Ijams information desk. Paul James, executive director of the nature center, said this week he did not want to discuss Ijams’ financial arrangements with the private company. But he has said in previous media interviews that it was to share in the Navitat revenue. The centerpiece of Knoxville’s popular “urban wilderness,” Ijams has been at the forefront of efforts to enhance outdoor recreational tourism in Knox County.
James declined to answer questions about the origin of the Navitat partnership or whether Ijams is making any of its own demands before Navitat reopens. But he says Ijams has been working with Navitat through the inspection process.
“It’s been a difficult summer,” James says. “We hope they will reopen and be successful.”
The new inspection report is the first step. Dated Sept. 3, it was submitted last week by Katie Dickerson, director of operations with Challenge Design Innovations of Pineola, N.C. She is the same inspector who evaluated the course immediately after the accident.
“Per the observable conditions of the inspected components, the course is in ‘safe and operable’ condition and ready for use with operator training provided by a qualified person,” states the report. But not all Navitat’s new equipment was available for testing when Dickerson re-inspected the course. For example, a single full-body harness was available during inspection and used to function-test the course. New tree tethers had been ordered to limit the potential fall distance for taller patrons but had not arrived. (One of the key problems found with the original equipment was that it did not provide the same level of safety for customers of different heights.)
Jefferson says the state will require paperwork and receipts proving that all the new equipment has been installed before the operating permit can be reinstated.
On the trails, Navitat had completed adjustments Dickerson had called for during her previous evaluation. In this second report, Dickerson suggested that Navitat take new measures to limit unauthorized use of the course. (There is no fence around the Navitat area and it is easily accessible from nearby Ijams trails.) She also suggested that Navitat consider getting an updated “As-Built” letter from an engineer showing the changes from the original plans approved by the engineer July 15.
Dickerson evaluated only the equipment, not Navitat’s instruction, training, or practices. When asked whether Navitat had plans to make any operating changes in addition to equipment changes, Dylan Burt with Navitat referred questions to communications officer Abby Burt. Abby Burt responded in an email that “out of respect for the family and those most closely involved, I cannot answer these incident-related questions at this time”—although the question was not about the incident.
The tragedy did highlight a weakness in state oversight. Jefferson says that although adventure courses and ziplines (which fall under the category of “amusement devices” in Tennessee) are supposed to be inspected by a third party before receiving a state permit, the state was checking only that the inspector was certified by a state-recognized trade association—in this case, the Association for Challenge Course Technology. (According to Navitat’s website, Dylan Burt even serves on the association’s Operations Certification Standards Committee.)
However, the inspector who first certified the safety of the Navitat course was John Walker, an ACCT-approved inspector whose firm designed the course and who is a partner in the Navitat business. He obviously didn’t qualify as being a “third party” with no financial interest in the company. Jefferson says the state now verifies that inspectors also have no financial relationship before approving a permit. Dickerson and her company fit the bill, she says.
Despite missing most of what might be considered the prime season for adventure recreation, Navitat hasn’t lost its operational window for 2015. The course is envisioned to be open Friday through Sunday year-round in good weather, Dylan Burt says. So in September or beyond, the course may be reopened to potentially bring new visitors (and revenue) to Ijams and Knoxville.
S. Heather Duncan has won numerous awards for her feature writing and coverage of the environment, government, education, business and local history during her 15-year reporting career. Originally from Western North Carolina, Heather has worked for Radio Free Europe, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in London, and several daily newspapers. Heather spent almost a dozen years at The Telegraph in Macon, Ga., where she spent most of her time covering the environment or writing project-investigations that provoked changes such as new laws related to day care and the protection of environmentally-sensitive lands. You can reach Heather at heather@knoxmercury.com
Share this Post