A fatal ride malfunction at an Ohio fair is putting the spotlight on ride safety and inspections.
In Michigan the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs is responsible for checking rides to prevent a similar incident. With the Ingham County Fair starting Monday July 31, all the rides will be going through even more inspections before anyone is allowed on them.
According to Skerbeck Entertainment Group, which puts on the fair, it has two in-house state-trained inspectors responsible for checking every ride. Each day before the fairgrounds open, both inspectors will check the 29 rides. They go through a 13-point checklist that covers everything from passenger restraints, brakes, bolt tightness to even communication devices.
That's all on top of the annual inspections required by the state.
"When someone is at a carnival, a festival, or a fair that's the last thing anybody wants to have happen," Mike Beamish, who oversees the state inspections, told News 10 last year. "Our guys are climbing underneath stuff, they're looking under motors, they're climbing up the top of different pieces of the equipment and making sure they're bolted together."
However inspectors say their safety checks only go so far. They're asking visitors to read and follow all the warning as well as safety signs that are required to be posted at each ride.
