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Ohio State Fair Ride Malfunction (1 Death and critical injuries)


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18 hours ago, PREMiERdrum said:

Given that this group is formed of European ride inspectors, I don't think it's that interesting at all. 

Ohio's Dept of Agriculture, Ohio State Highway Patrol, OSHAA, private investigators for Amusements of America, and representatives from KMG have all been involved in on-site investigations. Since many similar rides are in Europe and European ride inspectors will certainly be asked to look at these rides, it's likely that KMG is providing information to them to better inform inspectors and hopefully prevent any similar issues with these rides. 

Not physically looking at the ride but be willing to be be quoted as to what they believe the failure to be is careless- especially if that is not the true failure.  Now that it is out there, that is all anyone will believe.

As you said, there are a number of entities performing an on-site, physical investigation.  Does the European group believe those entities from Ohio are incompetent and they can diagnose the failure from pictures and an ocean away?  

 

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Cares has published the safety bulletin with requirements to begin operating the rides again.  Inspecting the arm for corrosion requires sandblasting the interior of the arm.  Also this bulletin only allows rides to operate until December 31, 2017.  This means the manufacturer will be releasing another bulletin which may include ride modifications.

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The ride operator will likely be sued, but it appears the true responsibility will fall on the ride manufacturer who either did not require the arm inspections or did not give (for lack of a better term) an "expiration date" as to how long these rides can be in service for before having a full-blown metal fatigue test conducted. 

Not trying to be morbid: from the info gathered at this point, I'm glad to hear it was not gross negligence on Amusements of America's part.  I have bashed traveling carnival ride operators many times. This does not appear to be their fault.

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I will say it over and over again. I do not trust riding anything portable that has been taken apart and reassembled numerous times throughout the year. Not to mention the conditions in which they are more than likely stored. 

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I really don't see them as that much less safe than your standard permanent amusement park rides. The companies that put on these shows have to have good safety records in order to make money. There are also thousands of fairs, church festivals, etc. across the country each year with portable rides, and there are rarely any accidents involving the rides. I rode the rides at the Kenton County Fair earlier this year and will probably ride the ones at the Boone County Fair when I go tomorrow night.

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  • 1 month later...

So, a patron tells the ride op that his seat was pretty shaky, which was ignored and then ride op offers to let the next patrons ride or be replaced by someone else. It absolutely blows my mind that you have a previous employee who says this:

Quote

The patrol’s report also says that a man who had previously worked on the Fire Ball for Amusements of America contacted them and alleged that cracks had been painted over.

“Subject gave an example of a ‘drop collar’ that was damaged and cracked prior to an inspection,” the report said. “Subject stated there was not enough time to properly repair the area so a fresh coat of paint was applied to hide the cracks in order to get the inspection to pass. Subject stated the owners knew how the repairs were being made and they were okay with it as long as the ride gets a pass.”

Yeah, I know that these people (who provide the rides) are in business and have a reputation to maintain, yada yada, so they have to maintain their portable rides. Except in the case where selling tickets to ride is more important than public safety. Thanks, but no thanks, I'll stick to permanent rides that have mechanics on site who are well versed in maintaining and inspecting their rides. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I am reminded of the aviation industry.  They developed a series of checks A to D.  An A check is fast and is done pretty frequently.  While a D check is only performed every few years and takes an entire team 2 months.  In a D check the plane is almost completely disassembled and every piece is examined, the paint is stripped from the entire body, interior is removed, fuel tanks, etc.  These checks are required by regulatory bodies but also are driven by the schedule of the manufacturer.  On some planes the D check is done every 5 or 6 years, on newer planes it is done every 15 years.

Which I think is where the break down in this issue occurred.  Amusement rides need maintenance.  It is the manufacturer's job to make a schedule for how frequently different parts of the ride are inspected and how.

Ride manufacturers have to anticipate issues and design rides so that they have redundancies whenever possible.  Guidelines need to include an inspection schedule which is frequent enough to catch problems before they can cause a catastrophic failure.  In this case it appears KMG had no guidelines for how to inspect if there was too much corrosion and how frequently it needed to be checked.  For corrosion to have reached this point it has been occurring for years and frankly could have been caught several years ago if someone had been looking for it.

Which is why the inspectors and the ride operator were not fined.  They followed the state laws and the manufacturers guidelines.  Obviously this was not sufficient and more needs to be done.

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I work as a manager for an adventure park and these inspectors check our ropes course and zip rail coaster. The checks are in depth but I was personally hoping that some more extensive checks were put in place after this incident. Stuff like dye testing and things of that nature should be done, it's a sad situation though I do think this could have been avoided.

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A lot of the NDT of that nature will be stipulated by the ride manufacturer.  The state ride inspectors can`t possibly be there to check rides during NDT in the off season.  Ohio has one of the more stringent ride inspection programs in the country.  Some states are self regulated.  In Ohio, every ride has to be inspected by a ride inspector before the public can board the ride.  Obviously, in this circumstance, the ride inspectors did not see the issue prior to the incident happening.  

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  • 5 weeks later...

It was hard to read that article.  It seems like that news station was trying to fabricate a story that the ODA has not learned anything from the Fireball accident.  Seemed like they were after ratings by sensationalizing.  Yes, it is still sad that someone lost their life on the ride.  

The article above mentioned that the report was released last month but does not state any of the findings of the report.  

Has this accident caused some people to think twice about about riding amusement park rides?  Perhaps.  Are amusement park rides still safe?  Absolutely.  There is always some risk in riding rides.  But there is also always a risk getting in your car and driving to the amusement park too.

Some states don`t even have a ride inspection program. (Florida is one of those states).  And all fair rides and rides at local festivals are inspected by the state ride inspectors.  From my experience with the ride inspectors at Coney, they do a thorough job.  

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  • 4 weeks later...
44 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

The once every couple year sensationalism news investigation about Amusement Park rides...The employees will love taking the calls they will undoubtedly be fielding after this airs...

http://local12.com/news/investigates/amusement-park-tragedy-a-family-changed-forever

 

Hopefully they make a distinction between traveling carnival rides and amusement park rides, but based on the title I'm not counting on it.

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They have been airing teasers for this on the radio several times today.  Including the quote of "You are never going to look at amusement rides again."  Definitely seems like a piece of sensationalism.

Don`t get me wrong, what happened at the Ohio State Fair was a tragedy, one that changed a families lives forever.  But that does not mean that all amusement park rides in the state of Ohio are unsafe, which is what the promo piece is suggesting.  

Having worked in operations at an amusement park now going on seventeen seasons, I can assure you that the rides are safe and inspected (at least at Coney).  The operators of these places can`t afford the negative PR that comes with an accident such as what happened at the State Fair.  It will be interesting to see what angle this story takes.

Have their been some accidents that occur (even at Coney)?  Absolutely.  Are they serious in nature?  Not usually.  More often than not they are cuts or pinches from people slamming their hands in the Scramber car, or tripping entering the ride area.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

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