Ardent Leisure secures Major Amusement Park Licences from regulator

The Ardent Leisure Group has revealed that it has been issued with Major Amusement Park Licences (MAP Licences) under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) for its Dreamworld and Whitewater World properties by Queensland’s workplace health and safety regulator, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ).

The granting of the MAP Licences represents the culmination of several years of extensive work by the business, in consultation with WHSQ, demonstrating a robust safety case that provides a holistic framework for the management of health and safety at both Dreamworld and Whitewater World.

The licensing regime for amusement parks in Queensland is a world-first that was instigated by the Queensland Government in 2019 with the objective of achieving world-class best practice safety standards in theme park operations.

The MAP Licences have been granted for a term of three years and six months.

Welcoming the licences, Ardent Leisure Chairman, Dr Gary Weiss AM stated “as Chair of the Board Safety and Risk Review Committee, I am extremely proud of the tireless pursuit of our highly experienced Theme Parks leadership team, supported by passionate staff across the business, to entrench global best practice safety standards in our operations.

“The granting of the licences is an endorsement of the focus and commitment to safety which is an ongoing initiative and it underpins our continued investment in this business.”

Ardent Leisure Theme Parks and Attractions Chief Executive, Greg Yong added “safety for our guests, our team and our animals is our number one priority. I am immensely proud of the entire team who have made significant enhancements to our systems since the safety case was instigated by the Queensland Government.

“We are pleased that these systems have met the standards required for issuance of these licenses and remain steadfast in our commitment to continuous improvement and to be a world leader in safety for our industry.”