In Vermont, they aren’t. Unlike elevators, the state doesn’t conduct safety inspections of the amusement rides that operate at county fairs and field days.
Last week, the House Agriculture Committee began looking at legislation that would require the hitherto uninspected rides to do daily safety inspections.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission regulates rides during the manufacturing stage, but the federal government leaves it up to states to scrutinize their set-up, maintenance, and operation. Vermont is one of only a handful of states that doesn’t subject amusement rides to any type of inspection.
Rep. Richard Lawrence, R-Lyndonville, who sponsored the bill and is also vice chairman of the committee, said it’s designed to be “proactive rather than reactive.”
“What’s going to happen is somewhere, sometime someone is going to get hurt and the whole industry is going to suffer.”
Lawrence, who is also a current member and former president of the Vermont Fairs Association, says accidents haven’t been an issue in Vermont because fairs closely vet ride companies. “We do not have fly-by-the- night amusement companies. These are all reputable people.” Lawrence said.
But the need for some scrutiny became glaringly apparent in 2011 when a fair worker was killed at the Lamoille Field Day celebration in Johnson after being caught in a diesel generator fan. The man died in a fan, not a ride, Lawrence pointed out, but, he added, it did “bring attention to the fact that we need to continue to develop safety measures at fairs.”
Currently, rides that run in Vermont must register with the Secretary of State, and owners must prove that they have a minimum of $1 million in insurance to guard against lawsuits. But they aren’t under any obligation to prove to the state that they are safe.
Lawrence’s bill requires ride owners or operators to conduct inspections each day they operate on Vermont soil and to submit safety logs, along with a fee, to the Agency of Agriculture. The fee, which is still being settled upon, would cover the cost of collating the logs for the agency.
The committee is currently culling feedback from an array of ride operators and fair officials. According to Lawrence, they are, by and large, behind it.
The bill must walk a fine line, Lawrence explained, preventing accidents without saddling fairs with crippling expenses.
By winning approval among a plurality of fair operators, it’s cleared a major hurdle that has tripped up bills in the past, according to Lawrence.
“It has been difficult to get the amusement ride companies all on the same page. At the moment I think I’ve done it,” Lawrence said.
Rep. William Lippert, who has been trying to a get a similar bill passed for the last two decades, said this is the first time the issue has ever gotten real traction in a committee.
This bill still has a bumpy road ahead, however. According to Lawrence, the Agency of Agriculture has concerns about getting swept into legal battles in the event of an injury. And some operators and lawmakers are skeptical about the concept of “self-inspection.”
Lawrence says “self-inspection” is effective because operators are intimately familiar with their machines and they have “a sincere interest in making sure everything is done right.”
“Self-inspection” also sidesteps a significant hitch: There isn’t a single ride inspector in the state of Vermont, and out-of-state inspectors come at a hefty price. Champlain Valley Fair — the only fair in the state that hires a certified inspector – spends $4,000 per visit.
Most other states have ride inspectors on their payroll, and Lippert’s version of the bill would have required Vermont to do the same. That bill repeatedly ran into resistance because of what it would cost the state, and Lippert said he doesn’t expect there to be any support for it this session, “given the current fiscal pressure.”
The state does have a well-established safety regimen for ski resorts, where three tramway technicians, employed by Vermont Department of Labor, inspect the gondolas and chairlifts.
But there are also calls — even among the ride owners — for a bill that would provide more objective oversight by requiring inspections by certified professionals.
Bob DiStephano, the owner of Dreamland Amusements, which operates 38 rides and attends six Vermont fairs, told the Agriculture and Forest Products Committee they could add “teeth” to the bill by requiring that operators be certified by the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials (NAARSO).
“Any reputable ride company will have NAARSO certified people,” DiStephano said.
But another ride company owner, Jules Gillette who runs Gillette Amusements, told the committee that mandating NAARSO certification puts “too much of a burden” on operators.
Rep. Lippert also has reservations about the concept of “self-inspection.”
“It’s a little bit akin to we don’t ask restaurants to inspect themselves for food safety. Buildings don’t inspect their own elevators. People who know the technical requirements do the inspection.”
Lippert says he hopes, “there will be some training so the person has the technical knowledge and so there is an arm’s length independence.”
The bill still more fine-tuning, Lawrence said, but the committee plans to vote on it soon.
