In neighboring Denison, only six of 11 rides were approved to operate during its four-day festival in June because inspectors had “zero tolerance for rust,” said Greg DiDonato, the town's mayor. “Having a festival without rides is like having a beer garden without beer. “We were doing damage control all weekend,” said festival chairman Matt Ritenour. All they could come up with were a few inflatable bounce houses and one kiddie ride. His decision left organizers of the Tusky Days festival in Tuscarawas scrambling to find another ride company.
“When I go 15 miles to Indiana or to West Virginia, Georgia, Florida or Kentucky, my equipment’s fine,” he said.
Instead of taking his rides to 26 fairs and festivals around Ohio this summer, he's canceled all of those and filled his calendar with events in neighboring states. “I can’t gamble like that,” said Val Gorham, who runs Cromer United Amusements from its base in Eaton, Ohio. Ride owners say they’re all for safety and don’t mind added scrutiny, but some rides have been shut down for things they think don’t compromise safety such as surface rust on handrails and on transport trailers.įrank Welsh, a member of the Ohio Advisory Council on Amusement Ride Safety, a volunteer board, said some inspectors are probably being a little too picky to protect themselves from being fired or disciplined. "Having that other set of eyeballs is huge.”īecause ride owners now are required to make visual inspections before going out on the road, many are making needed modifications before inspectors arrive, Miran said. “It’s out of the ride owners hands in that scenario, and it’s up to the manufacturer who has the deep knowledge of what that ride is and what the ride needs," said Miran. The head of the state’s amusement ride safety office, David Miran, said the law emphasizes checking a ride's structural components and that inspectors are told to err on the side of caution.Ĭarnival owners also must work with ride manufacturers or a certified engineer when repairs are needed and have them sign off on the work - a process that is more expensive and keeps rides out of commission longer, resulting in lost revenue, their operators say. “We will have a history that comes with each ride, whether it be a kiddie ride or a roller coaster,” said Dorothy Pelanda, director of Ohio’s Agriculture Department, which oversees ride inspections. Called “Tyler's Law,” it requires more mandatory inspections for big attractions and makes owners maintain repair and travel records. While the state has long had one of the nation's more robust ride inspection programs - nine states don’t require any government scrutiny - Ohio lawmakers spent more than a year crafting a plan to increase oversight. But settlements were reached with the ride’s owner and two private inspection companies while another lawsuit against the manufacturer is still in court.
Ohio, like many other states, gives its ride inspectors immunity from negligence lawsuits. The maker of the spinning, swinging Fire Ball ride said years of undetected excessive internal corrosion caused a carriage holding four riders to break apart just hours after a final inspection.Īttorneys for the victims believe the state's inspectors missed obvious warning signs and also blamed the ride's operator and maker, though no one was charged. The 2017 accident at Ohio’s showcase fair that killed Tyler Jarrell, an 18-year-old Marine enlistee, and left four others with life-changing injuries sent shudders through the amusement industry. A few have pulled out of Ohio’s festival circuit or are considering it because of what they say is uncertainty over how the rules are being enforced. Some carnival operators say inspectors are overreaching and shutting rides over issues that aren’t immediate safety concerns. Inspectors are conducting more mandatory checks for rust and metal fatigue and increasingly flagging rides for repairs during the first year of enforcement under the new regulations.
Four years after a carnival ride’s corroded steel arm snapped and flung a high school student to his death at the Ohio State Fair, the state is tightening its oversight of amusement rides.
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