'The Hidden World Of Travelling Carnival Rides'

[Jamberoo Fan]

No, this isn't about a new documentary on the history or unique facts of travelling carnival rides. This is another story from our new (negatively-biased) amusement ride correspondent, 7 News:

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Carnival secrets: Horror accidents on Aussie show rides revealed

Dodgem cars catching fire, safety harnesses failing and passengers falling from a Ferris wheel are just some of the ride mishaps Australian carnivals have kept quiet about.

In October, four people died on a ride at Dreamworld and now a 7 News investigation can reveal dozens of carnival rides have been investigated for accidents and flaws across Australia.

Most of them are never reported, but under freedom of information laws documents have been obtained that reveal the scale of the safety issues surrounding the rides.

In one case three passengers fell from a Ferris wheel in NSW, with one suffering a broken pelvis.

Government documents show a toddler was hit in the head with a spinning cup after slipping through a fence.

Another instance from 2015 saw a harness fail, throwing a passenger from a ride called Devil's Dance.

In 2014, another popular ride called the Zipper saw a girl needing to be airlifted to hospital after her head slammed against a cage door.

Late last year, a child was injured when an inflatable slide suddenly deflated, and another child was burned when a dodgem car caught fire.

Ride engineer Morry Akbarian at Ruffle Carnival Rides, said there were many components that went into maintaining a ride.

"Rust is a danger but it depends on the advancement of it, nuts and bolts, things that tear, bearings, electrical components,” he told 7 News.

In the last two years, 81 rides were given safety improvement notices, but 17 were so dangerous they were closed down altogether.

Peter Dunphy from SafeWork NSW said rides had to be monitored regularly to make sure they were safe for carnival-goers.

"One serious incident can be quite catastrophic and that's why it's very important for us to ensure we're closely monitoring the safety of patients and the operators,” Mr Dunphy said.

But ride operator George Zacchini insists that accidents are few and far between.

“You've got more worries driving your car on the road through the day than you have coming here and riding on the amusement rides,” he said.

“It’s not supposed to be danger it’s supposed to be a fun thing,” Mr Akbarian added.

The Facebook embed replaces the same video that is in that location in the article. The only difference, apart from being a Facebook embed, is that it is missing the story's introduction from 7 News Sydney's Friday & Saturday presenter, Michael Usher, who says while sitting in front of a TV screen which says 'DANGEROUS RIDES' while showing an image of an operating chair swing & the loop of a red rollercoaster:

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Every year, dozens of small travelling carnivals see near misses & injuries to people enjoying their rides. Most of them are never reported but now a 7 News investigation using documents obtained under freedom of information laws has revealed the scale of the safety issues.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Jamberoo Fan

[Reanimated35]

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Do you find travelling carnival rides safe?

Yes, all.

Yes, some.

No, none.

Where's the option for "No, but I'll ride them anyway"?

 

[Wil_i_am_not]

I don't have a problem with Carnival rides personally, It's just freak accidents that scare the public out and attract media attention. IMO, carnival rides are the safest, as they need to be checked every time they are pulled down and set back up again.

[pushbutton]

Anyone (and I mean adults) who gets in a ride would have to be a complete moron not to realise there is an element of risk.

Children wouldn't usually know that but it's their parents responsibility to be aware of it for them. We then assess the risk (for ourselves or the child in our care) and then make an informed decision on whether or not to get on the ride.

Same goes for cars, buses, trains, planes. Actually any vehicle!

The other alternative is all vehicles should be banned. We all walk everywhere and return to the stone age!

Amazing that this is considered "news"!

[Brad2912]

Any ride that is dismantled, transported, and rebuilt regularly, by different people, on sometimes hasty timelines, and not independently audited on each rebuild instance is going to bring with it an element of added risk. 

The value to that element depends on many factors. That's not to say travelling rides are not safe, but I personally consider them less, and in some instances far less, safe than fixed theme park rides 

[pin142]

Starting to have this attitude towards most of the "media" of late

[Jamberoo Fan]

The 2nd last line in the video of this latest story will please Parkz forum members....not:

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If you have a story, get in touch.

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Sydney Easter Show workers break bones on drunken big slide ride

Video has captured the startling speeds five intoxicated Sydney Royal Easter Show workers came down the giant slide and suffered serious injuries.

A 7 News investigation can reveal the workers had been drinking at the Cattleman's Bar in the showgrounds until 12.20am before taking their late night plunge in 2015.

The video shows the break-neck speeds the adults reached before hitting the wall at the bottom of the slide.

Not all of them walked away.

A 22-year-old woman broke both legs while a 60-year-old man walked away with broken ribs.

SafeWork spokesman Peter Dunphy told 7 News the ride was not setup to handle riders out of hours.

"The bottom of the ride didn't have the inflatable (crash) mats and that and that led to them, at speed, exiting the ride and hitting the barriers," he said.

Work Cover documents also revealed it had been raining, adding to the riders' speed.

"The momentum caused them to go under the safety padding at the end of the disembarking area," the documents state.

The investigation concluded the ride was sound, putting the injuries down to human error.

Following the four lives claimed at Dreamworld in October last year, rides at this year's Easter Show are likely to come under greater scrutiny.

[zacsta_1997]

I've had enough of media pulling dreamworld into everything as an example!!  Leave dreamworld alone. and leave the Amusement Park and Carnival industry alone. I wish they'd stop making stories relevant 2-3 years ago breaking news today just because of what happened at dreamworld last year. 

[Slick]

Ahhh the classic whose rides are safer debate. Carnies say their's because they take them apart so often meanwhile theme parks say their's are because they don't come apart as easily. 

Looking forward to seeing this thread pop up in another twelve months. 

[rappa]

I say theme parks have large teams of qualified mechanical fitters maintaining their rides and extensive engineering  testing at tightly regimented intervals on their attractions...

Who/what do Carnivals have?

[Reanimated35]

1 hour ago, djrappa said:

Who/what do Carnivals have?

A bloke with a spanner who's dad taught him how to tighten a bolt back in '63? 

[Noxegon]

On 1/20/2017 at 0:16 PM, djrappa said:

I say theme parks have large teams of qualified mechanical fitters maintaining their rides and extensive engineering  testing at tightly regimented intervals on their attractions...

Who/what do Carnivals have?

I can't speak for Australia, but I know the people who run the largest travelling fair in Ireland and they put an extraordinary amount of effort into maintenance and safety testing – and as someone else noted above I'd say their rides are safer than those in big parks because they're constantly taken apart and checked during reassembly.

I had a conversation with them some years ago regarding a design flaw they identified in one of their rides during a maintenance rebuild. Their work may well have saved lives since as all the similar machines out there had to be modified subsequently.

[rappa]

That's good to know. 

 

My who/what question wasn't rhetorical, I genuinely want to know. 

[Noxegon]

6 hours ago, djrappa said:

My who/what question wasn't rhetorical, I genuinely want to know. 

Thanks for the clarity. I was told once that safety was the number one priority because one accident determined to be their fault would be the end of their business.

I have no doubt that there are operators who are less conscientious out there – but I'd suggest that that applies to parks and carnivals in equal measure

[Reanimated35]

6 hours ago, djrappa said:

My who/what question wasn't rhetorical, I genuinely want to know. 

It looks like everything is overseen by AALARA so given these carnival rides are being closely monitored by the relevant local/state/federal WHS departments to meet Australian standards, you would think that it's safe to assume the people who work on them would have to be qualified. Whether that's true in practice is another story I guess. 

 

Edited January 31, 2017 by reanimated35
After re-reading that, I don't really think it does much to answer your question, sorry.