Tragedy at Ohio state fair, 1 dead, 5 critical on fire ball ride, 26 July 2017

[Satch]

Sorry if this has been posted before. This report said there had been problems with the Fireball's "Swing Arm" on multiple versions of the Fireball, and "needed to be fixed immediately:"

[video=youtube;Ut8954iELxM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut8954iELxM[/video]

Satch

 

[bainalive]

Not fool proof, but that doesn't mean things can't be improved right?

Crucial parts can be tested and a time frame can be established for when they are likely to develop fatigue fractures. Yes and I would be strongly in favor of either replacing those crucial parts then, or retire the whole ride after a certain number of years.

so what do you want them to do, more then they have been doing?

even if you said every ride needs to be demolished, replaced, and rebuilt after one year, that will not completely eliminate the possibility of a failure/accident, nothing will, its impossible to do that,

a time frame can not be established, quality control on manufactured parts can only do so much, you can not determine a part will last number of days before it has fatigue cracks, you are asking the impossible,

you could build two rides exactly the same and place them side by side, one might have an accident after 30 days, the other might last 50 years, you cant determine that, or predict that,

its the same if you go into a store and buy two of the exact same TVs, one might crap out after 6 months, the other might last 20 years,

buy 2 of the same car from the exact same dealership, one could have all sort of problems after 6 months, one may never have problems,

you cant inspect every ride with a magnifying glass every day, even that will not make a difference, stress cracks could appear throughout the day,

the only solution is to have the ride inspected with a fine tooth comb after every single ride throughout the day, which would take hours, and thats just absurd

we dont live in a perfect world and we never will

 

[Spellbound]

That is a very well-written last post, bainalive. Thank you for the contribution. You are right. There is no guarantee, no matter how well we inspect or take care of these rides that we can prevent another accident.

I think when deaths are involved, we tend to over-think a lot and good discussions are also a way for us to understand in an honest and sensible manner.

 

[Betty P]

Sorry if this has been posted before. This report said there had been problems with the Fireball's "Swing Arm" on multiple versions of the Fireball, and "needed to be fixed immediately:"

[video=youtube;Ut8954iELxM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut8954iELxM[/video]

Satch

It sounds like the ride owner needs to provide some documentation proving they conducted the inspection in 2007 that the manufacturer indicated was needed. We have computers and the internet today that can make this process of record keeping easy and accessible. We have online databases for record keeping on all kinds of things from your automobile to your health care to the city streets and public utilities where you live. There's no reason these ride owners can't do the same, providing proof and access to local ride inspectors.

So far, it doesn't sound like the ride owner complied with the 2007 inspection order. Otherwise, they would be offering proof that the inspection was done by certified experts and any necessary repairs made. Hopefully, they'll be able to provide that information.

We have so many resources at our fingertips these days and so many experts in the latest knowledge of engineering, metallurgy, etc. We need to take advantage of those resources to promote public safety.

 

[Spellbound]

The pictures we have seen of the young girl carried off the ride was an 18 year old, still in critical condition. Her uncle was interviewed earlier, and the family believed Jennifer was in line for the ride and got injured by falling debris. They since learned she had been on the ride.

There is a video showing This young lady --- she is about to be a high school senior.

http://www.10tv.com/article/ohio-state-fair-tragedy-18-year-old-victim-hasnt-woken-accident

Video captured the chaos in the moments after show a young woman carrying another female from the ride.Denise Gonzalez says person being carried is her daughter Jennifer.
Hannah Sallee says she's the one carrying her.
"I was getting off the ride, and I was running out, and then I ran back in and I picked the girl up off the seat, and she was just unconscious," Sallee said. "Her feet were blue like she needed help."

Her mother says she has been somewhat responsive to touch but hasn't woken up since the accident.
Jennifer was about to begin her senior year of high school at ECOT. Her mother says all she wants right now is for her daughter to open her eyes.

 

[Spellbound]

Many articles since the accident can be found here: http://www.10tv.com/tags/tragedy-ohio-state-fair

http://www.10tv.com/article/amusement-industry-group-eyes-corrosion-ohio-state-fair-accident

The National Association for Leisure Industry Certification, which represents ride inspectors and provides technical assistance to the amusement ride industry, issued a technical bulletin stating that the ride’s sweep arm suffered from corrosion that had reduced the metal’s thickness. It adds that water had been able to impact the structure during transportation and storage processes.

The National Association for Leisure Industry Certification is asking that inspectors who are asked to look at Fire Ball rides perform a “detailed thickness check” on the material, and to inspect the inside of the ride’s structure. The association will record the thickness test results, so that the ride’s manufacturer can determine an acceptable level of material loss to the structure.

Tyler Jarrell was laid to rest on Tuesday:
http://www.10tv.com/article/teen-killed-ride-malfunction-ohio-state-fair-laid-rest

Jarrell was a dedicated member of the Columbus Police Explorers, a program to show teens what it's like to be a cop. Officers showed up to honor him. Marines were there in support as well, Tyler had just enlisted.

Tyler’s funeral procession passed by the McDonald’s on Stringtown Road where he worked.
​

 

[loveisthemovement]

Good lord. I just clicked on a news article that autoplayed the video I was avoiding watching. Horrific.

 

[Elainera]

so what do you want them to do, more then they have been doing?

even if you said every ride needs to be demolished, replaced, and rebuilt after one year, that will not completely eliminate the possibility of a failure/accident, nothing will, its impossible to do that,

a time frame can not be established, quality control on manufactured parts can only do so much, you can not determine a part will last number of days before it has fatigue cracks, you are asking the impossible,

you could build two rides exactly the same and place them side by side, one might have an accident after 30 days, the other might last 50 years, you cant determine that, or predict that,

its the same if you go into a store and buy two of the exact same TVs, one might crap out after 6 months, the other might last 20 years,

buy 2 of the same car from the exact same dealership, one could have all sort of problems after 6 months, one may never have problems,

you cant inspect every ride with a magnifying glass every day, even that will not make a difference, stress cracks could appear throughout the day,

the only solution is to have the ride inspected with a fine tooth comb after every single ride throughout the day, which would take hours, and thats just absurd

we dont live in a perfect world and we never will

bainalive, I believe ride owners should do as much as possible. Things can always be improved. I believe in improvement of life which includes the safety and quality of the items we use. Yes accidents will still happen but maybe less often and with less loss of life. Look at formula 1 and other race drivers, for example, how often they walk away from a crash nowadays. It was not so 40 years ago. A crash at that speed meant almost certain death. This improvement was not achieved by shrugging shoulders.

 

[FinallyRegistered]

With the new administration rolling back regulations on everything, who will be responsible for inspections? Will we just have to rely on for-profit amusement parks to carry enough insurance to pay for injury or death? "Ride at your own risk" is all that is left if state and federals agencies have their safety measures, inspections, and regulations cut back.

 

[bainalive]

bainalive, I believe ride owners should do as much as possible. Things can always be improved. I believe in improvement of life which includes the safety and quality of the items we use. Yes accidents will still happen but maybe less often and with less loss of life. Look at formula 1 and other race drivers, for example, how often they walk away from a crash nowadays. It was not so 40 years ago. A crash at that speed meant almost certain death. This improvement was not achieved by shrugging shoulders.

IMO amusement park rides are very safe as it is,

think about how many millions (or even billions) of people ride these rides every single day of the year, and compare that to how often an accident occurs,

if you compare the numbers you would probably be more likely to be in a plane crash then an amusement park ride accident,

 

[KaaBoom]

IMO amusement park rides are very safe as it is,

think about how many millions (or even billions) of people ride these rides every single day of the year, and compare that to how often an accident occurs,

if you compare the numbers you would probably be more likely to be in a plane crash then an amusement park ride accident,

I think your numbers are way off. Do you really think that one out of seven people in the entire world ride amusement park rides every single day of the year? I would be surprised if that many people ride them even once a year. I haven't ridden one in about 40 years and incidents like this don't make me want to start again now. I'm pretty sure that air travel is safer than amusement park rides. Over 4,000 children are injured on amusement park rides every year. I'm sure that 4,000 children are not being injured on aircraft every year. Personally I think children should be banned from amusement park rides. If adults want to risk their lives on these death traps, that's their business, but children have no damn business on them.

Thousands of kids hurt annually on amusement ridesl

 

[bainalive]

I think your numbers are way off. Do you really think that one out of seven people in the entire world ride amusement park rides every single day of the year?l

i wasn't talking about how many individual people ride the rides, i mean how many total "riders" there are on the rides per day,

one individual could go to a park one day and ride 20 rides, so that would account for 20 "riders" even though its the same person,

take one roller coaster as a random example, lets say the capacity of each "train" is 50 people, and the "trains" leave the station every 5 mins, that would be 600 people riding that ride every hour, lets say the park is open 10 hours, thats 6,000 riders a day on only one ride,

maybe the park has 10 similar rides, so now its 60,000 "riders" in one day at only one park,

now think about how many parks there are in the entire world

 

[Jax49]

I think your numbers are way off. Do you really think that one out of seven people in the entire world ride amusement park rides every single day of the year? I would be surprised if that many people ride them even once a year. I haven't ridden one in about 40 years and incidents like this don't make me want to start again now. I'm pretty sure that air travel is safer than amusement park rides. Over 4,000 children are injured on amusement park rides every year. I'm sure that 4,000 children are not being injured on aircraft every year. Personally I think children should be banned from amusement park rides. If adults want to risk their lives on these death traps, that's their business, but children have no damn business on them.

Thousands of kids hurt annually on amusement ridesl

^^^
This.

 

[PrairieWind]

Bainalive, that is a good point. When you think about the number of people on those rides, and the number of days and hours those rides operate, the number of injuries is actually surprisingly small. So I do think that, in general, carnival rides are fairly safe. My son and I went to a pretty big carnival this last weekend. He is at that age where he can ride everything and so we did, for four hours!! My stomach is still not quite right! Anyway, because of the Ohio accident, I was paying close attention to the rides and the operators. The rides for the most part looked in good shape, a few appeared to be very new manufacture, some older. As for the people operating them, we all know how "carnies" can be. Yikes. I need not say more. However, I must say that they did seem to be paying better attention to things than I remember in the past. I did see one of them inspect a seat restraing system in between rides and went and got someone else to look at it. They "closed" that seat after that. And they were all pretty good about checking after everyone was seated to make sure all the safety restrains were in place and latched before starting the ride. So I was actually a bit pleasantly surprised by the operators.

Obviously safety should always be a concern. But I don't think we need some new federal Department of Carnivals or anything. State regulations and supervision is probably the best way to go. I think one place more emphasis could be made is on the inspectors. Who are they, are they qualified to do their jobs and are they actually doing full inspections? You can come up with whatever regulations you want, but if the inspectors are not really going over the rides, it doesn't matter. If there is a stress fracture developing on a ride, like has been speculated in the Ohio incident, that should be found. Believe me, the carnival owner WANTS that to be discovered and fixed. Sure, the carnival owners want to make money and keep rides in service as much as possible. But, they know a serious accident like Ohio could ruin them. I saw earlier that the Ohio fair contract required $5 million in insurance. Folks, that is NOTHING. The injuries and claims and suits from the Ohio incident will be 5 times that much easily. I am pretty sure that carnival has insurance well above that amount.

 

[AmyPond]

The pictures we have seen of the young girl carried off the ride was an 18 year old, still in critical condition. Her uncle was interviewed earlier, and the family believed Jennifer was in line for the ride and got injured by falling debris. They since learned she had been on the ride.

There is a video showing This young lady --- she is about to be a high school senior.

http://www.10tv.com/article/ohio-state-fair-tragedy-18-year-old-victim-hasnt-woken-accident

I hate that the woman moved the girl and carried her like a sack of potatoes after the accident. Never a good idea.

IMO amusement park rides are very safe as it is,

think about how many millions (or even billions) of people ride these rides every single day of the year, and compare that to how often an accident occurs,

if you compare the numbers you would probably be more likely to be in a plane crash then an amusement park ride accident,

I think permanent rides in parks are much different than temporary rides at fairs.

 

[Spellbound]

I hate that the woman moved the girl and carried her like a sack of potatoes after the accident. Never a good idea.



I think permanent rides in parks are much different than temporary rides at fairs.

BBM: I have worried about that ever since I saw the video, thinking it might have been her mother carrying her.

 

[nerosleuth]

More amusement rides in Ohio, but not more inspectors


In a Columbus Dispatch newspaper article on August 1, 2017 concerning state ride inspectors in Ohio, the newspaper reported that in addition to ride inspections during 2015, the Amusement Ride Safety and Enforcement section also handled licensing for 286 permanent amusement parks, 35 go-kart tracks and 22 water parks in Ohio.

Source:

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170801/more-amusement-rides-in-ohio-but-not-more-inspectors


Here is what the newspaper didn't mention in that newspaper article.

Not only would they have to do ride inspections at the amusement parks, go-kart tracks, and water parks, and since there are 88 counties in the state of Ohio, they would also inspect amusement rides for the county fairs that are held in each county in Ohio. And they would also have to do ride inspections for local community and church carnivals as well. Even a small amusement ride company that sets up operations for a few days at a neighborhood strip mall or shopping center would also be inspected as well.

So with all of the above locations where amusement rides can appear in Ohio, that's a lot of rides to inspect in a lot of locations in Ohio.

 

[buffetoflies]

I hate that the woman moved the girl and carried her like a sack of potatoes after the accident. Never a good idea.

No, not a good idea, but this article: http://nbc4i.com/2017/08/02/one-week-after-ohio-state-fair-accident-victim-remains-in-coma/ says she can move her limbs so she did not have a neck injury.

 

[KaaBoom]

I hate that the woman moved the girl and carried her like a sack of potatoes after the accident. Never a good idea.

I agree, unless the girl was in some danger where she was at, she should not have done that.

 

[JanetElaine]

http://wkbn.com/2017/08/06/fire-bal...excessive-corrosion-led-to-fatal-malfunction/

Fire Ball ride manufacturer says ‘excessive corrosion’ led to fatal malfunction

"“It was determined that excessive corrosion on the interior of the gondola support beam dangerously reduced the beam’s wall thickness over the years. This finally led to the catastrophic failure of the ride during operation,” the company says in a letter dated Aug. 4."

Full statement at link. Not sure if it's okay to post the whole statement, or link to it on the manufacturer's Facebook?