The Kentucky State Fair is set to open one week from today (next Thursday). Two tragic amusement ride related incidents in Kansas and Tennessee are causing increased attention to public safety.
A ten year old boy was killed on a Kansas water slide and three were girls hospitalized after falling out of a Tennessee Ferris wheel this week. The man who heads Kentucky’s amusement ride inspection program says such incidents require an effort to see what needs to be done differently. Chad Halsey says his crew will be busy inspecting about 60 rides leading up to the State Fair’s August 18th opening. “After the fair opens, we do daily, we check operators at night. We are there on the grounds. If the midway is open, we are out there on the grounds, making sure all the rides are safe to operate,” said Halsey.
Halsey says his office is responsible for inspecting water rides 15 feet tall and higher. He says Kansas doesn’t have a state amusement park inspection program and Tennessee has third party inspections.?
