IAAPA Safety Institute

David Bromilow combines 37 years of experience within the leisure, sports and entertainment sectors. He is well regarded as technical expert and consultant, with global expertise in operations, engineering / maintenance, risk management and occupational health & safety. From Lloyd’s to Drayton Manor Park, Pleasure Beach to Magic Harbour, David spread his knowledge, working worldwide. He has been Instructor and Risk Control Manager. David delivers risk management seminars, health and safety workshops on principles and procedures.

Har started his career as structural engineer and specialized in dynamic loaded steel structures . This is what lead him into the design of roller coasters at Vekoma where he started in 1989. Har has been working for almost 30 years in the amusement industry, mainly in the design and manufacturing of roller coasters and other amusement rides at Vekoma Rides as project engineer, engineering manager and now since 12 years as C.O.O.

In the past 15 years Har has been serving on different standardization committees for Amusement Rides such as ASTM F24, CEN TC152 (EN 13814) and ISO TC254. He has also been working on the harmonization of these standards and is a proud member of the IAAPA EMEA and Global Safety Committee.

Alan Love set up Choice Insight Ltd to undertake market research in leisure & culture, travel & tourism five years ago. IAAPA has been a major client since 2012, with the European Ride Safety Report and other studies. When Alan’s career started in 1975, that office contained slide rules and a telex machine, and men wore suits and ties to work every day. Alan’s first visit to Disneyland Paris was in suit and tie and carrying a brief-case, following a meeting with their market research team. Alan’s first leisure client was Madame Tussaud’s (in the days when Merlin was still only King Arthur’s wizard). Alan’s most recent leisure clients at Choice Insight are London’s Winter Wonderland, and the Watercress Line, a preserved steam railway 60km from London.

Achim is a mechanical engineer with advanced knowledge in management and development of amusement rides. He has more than fifteen years experience in maintenance, operation and management of rides and attractions and five years in the health and safety department.

In 1998, he started his career with an intership at showman Oscar Bruch jr and some amusement parks in Germany. During his studies he worked as an operator. After his graduation he worked more then 10 years for the maintenance department at Europa-Park (Rust, Germany).

Owen is a Health, Safety and Security Director for Merlin Entertainments, responsible for Health, Safety and Security across two divisions of Merlin - Resort Theme Parks and Merlin Magic Making. With over 15 years of experience in the Health and Safety Sector across a number of industries, he leads a Team overseeing Safety in some of Europe’s leading Theme Parks, including Gardaland, Heide Park and Alton Towers. He has also leads safety within Merlin Magic Making, the Merlin division who create, produce and deliver some of the magical new Merlin attractions, rides and experiences across the globe. He has overseen some significant steps at Merlin, in particular the approach in managing risk across the lifecycle of a ride from inception, as a creative idea on a page, to the ride being fully realised and operational. Owen has worked at Merlin for 6 years, before that he was an Inspector with the Health and Safety Executive, the UK Health and Safety regulator where he carried out both inspection and serious accident investigation.

Gianni is a European expert on Standardisation and Harmonisation in Safety and Accessibility for Amusement Parks, Rides and Attractions. He shares his experience worldwide and has helped facilities to improve their safety procedures. Gianni is the technical Secretary of ANCASVI, the first European Association of builders created in the 1980s. He has been a member since 1988 of various boards, such as the UNI Safety Commission, European Standardisation Committee, technical Committee 152, Working Group UNI GL 14, ISO/TC 254 and ASTM Committee F24.

Led by a strong passion for the amusement parks industry, after his studies in marketing and communication, Massimiliano began his career as a Marketing, Press & PR Manager Italy for Disneyland Paris. In 2008, he took on the challenge to join the team in charge of relaunching the 40-years old miniature facility Minitalia, Milano, and turned it into a cutting edge theme park. After running Leolandia as a General Manager for seven years, Massimiliano became V.P Strategic Development. The park is Italy’s number one park for families with children under 10, with a strong focus on safety, accessibility, environment and service.

Danilo Santi is General Manager of Gardaland Theme Parks. He is in charge of the theme park and Sea Life’s business & budget, in terms of Operation of the Rides, product excellence management - call center, info points & welcome desk for disabled people (customer satisfaction), commercial sales (Food & Beverage and Retail), security & safety and parking.

Mohamed Gad has served as Erection, Commissioning and Maintenance Mechanical Engineer for a large successful steel mill project (F100 – Egypt). He has a track record in service and technical support of engineering products to the UAE market such as expansion joints & air filtration system for the Gas Turbines of DEWA power plants, delivering standard material specifications and value to client organizations.

Mohammed has over 7,5 years experience in the Occupational Health and Safety field as Team Leader / Principle Accident Investigation Officer in Dubai Municipality with a main focus on the funfair area and amusement facilities, recently as Senior Accreditation Engineer. Hence he combined engineering, technical support, sales, HSE and Management practical experiences. On a personal side, Mohamed holds a first aid instructor trainer from Emergency First Response as well as PADI Master Instructor qualification with multiple specialty to share with his student.

Before joining Disneyland Paris in 2017, Emmanuel has been director Environment Health and Safety since 2011 for the Alstom Group and then for GE Group. He has 20 years of experience in Health, Safety and Environment and a strong knowledge in Risks Prevention, Crisis Management, Food Safety and Engineering & Maintenance. Emmanuel holds various positions, both in France and abroad, in huge companies, such as Seagram-Universal, Pernod Ricard and Safran.

When he was young, Laurent Martin was a volunteer firefighter. Then, he completed a Master's of Security and is qualified as Fire Safety Manager. Since 2010, he has been in charge of the Grand Parc Du Puy du Fou Security Department, with 170 employees divided into several teams: Reception and Security, Site cleanup, Fire safety, Relief to person, Security control, safety, Medical team.

In addition, Laurent Martin is responsible for the Puy du Fou environmental policy: since 2012, the Green Globe label certified the sustainable development approach of the 400 ha park which meets more than 350 criteria.

Richard holds a PhD in safety culture and behavioural safety and MSc in health and safety management. He acts as an expert witness in both criminal and civil cases and carries out consultancy to primarily heavy industrial clients. Some of his most interesting expert cases have been acting for a Hollywood based actor who was injured on set and providing human factors expertise to the waste industry for criminal cases following fatality. Richard is currently working on secondment to a foundry, assisting them with their approach to health and safety management