Hi. I am doing a case analysis and trying to figure out what could be the possible Recommended Course of Action & Develop an Action Plan for this problem: The is about the Schlitterbahn Tragedy at the Waterpark.

Problem / Opportunity: Opportunity: The water park industry in the US was growing at 1.9% and was expected to stay the same until 2024. Between 2014 to 2019 the water park industry in the US recorded a total of $5.1 billion in revenue. Around 17 million people visited the top North American water parks, most aged between 10-19 years. Before the incident in 2016, Kansas State had very few regulations for amusement park rides. Schlitterbahn saw this as an opportunity and made the most business out of it at the cost of visitors' safety.

Problem: 1.No age restrictions as to the use of different water slides and activities: Verruckt was one of the world's tallest and fastest slides at the time. In July 2014, when the slide was ready to use by the public, employees questioned, why the age requirement of 16 was removed. But the management never answered or communicated about it to the public.

2. There is no team of engineers for regular inspection of water slides: In November 2013, initially the ride was designed by Henry and his team, who don't have an engineering background. Later a team of engineers was hired to assist in the design, but their expertise was not considered as management was relying on trial and error.

3.Management was negligent for maintaining the slides and other equipment's: Management was irresponsible towards the other aspects of the park such as customers' complaints with water slides, raft's maintenance, repairs etc... During the testing process, the engineering team has also said that the slide was too fast to be safe, but still it was operated. There were 17 staff reports during the two summer season for the maintenance of Caleb's raft and 11 other complaints were from customers saying they had suffered head, neck & back injuries. None of these issues or complaints was addressed, as to making repairs or maintenance will require shutting down the water slide temporarily which would affect the business. Despite, the management knew that Verruckt (water slide) had issues they postponed the repairs and operated the water slide.

4.No external audit or expertise: Before Kansas had imposed inspection requirements in 2008; a Schlitterbahn lobbyist had urged the state legislators to allow large parks to handle their own inspections. During the investigation it was revealed that miles had ordered a lifeguard to fabricate a safety report that disguised the severity of an injury that someone had sustained on the Verruckt.