Safety Corner - December 2024
Safety hazards at the fairgrounds
Safety Corner is a monthly column published in CarnivalWarehouse.com's Amusement Warehouse Magazine written by Worldwide Safety Group's president, Avery Wheelock. Please consider a subscription to Amusement Warehouse Magazine to read this and more about the Carnival, Fair, and Amusement Park Industry.
This issue is about the IAFE convention and trade show, so we wanted to get our fairs thinking about safety at the fair.
What is safe at the fair? The rides always seem to be the first thing that everyone thinks needs the most oversight for inspections and monitoring of operations, but let’s talk about something else that in some events get overlooked. Keep in mind, the rides and attractions are a huge part of our inspection clients at Worldwide Safety Group and are a very important part of keeping the fair running smoothly but that is another article.
Many larger fairs and events have an entire staff of “safety” people whose job it is to monitor traffic, control vehicle movement on the grounds, livestock movement, verify fire lanes are maintained, and monitor the weather for potential damaging winds or storms. These are just the tip of the iceberg of things that the public have no idea that the fair board is monitoring or controlling to keep the attendees seeing the sights, sounds and smells of the event, and not having to worry about the hidden exposures that lurk on every event grounds in the country.
When we are doing a loss control survey for an insurance company of a fair or festival grounds, one of the first places we start looking are the parking lots. Is the areas well-lit at night? Are the parking surfaces even with smooth transitions going from grass to pavement? We look for depressions in the ground, some places call them gopher holes and some places with pavement get potholes. These are potential trips, falls, and ankle breakers. Some events use trams or coaches to transport the people from the parking lots. It should be someone’s job to inspect these vehicles and the seating and the hitch connections between trams. I see trams at a lot of events that don’t have safety chains to keep the coach from rolling away if the connection fails. Are there barriers between coaches to keep people from walking between them and over the connection?
How about the exhibit buildings? Is the floor layout manager in charge of making sure that the exhibitors have not blocked off the exit doors or covered up the fire extinguishers around the building? Maybe this falls under the fair’s safety officer to check all emergency exits, fire extinguishers and emergency lights are functioning properly. The local fire marshal probably is making an annual visit but when the event is about to start, I have seen that they sometimes get sidetracked by the lights and sights of the fair and might overlook something that should be tested or checked. So have your staff go around and double-check everything prior to the event.
The livestock buildings or tents at some events is another area that really needs some oversight at any size event. There are extension cords running every which way to power fans and equipment used during the event. Garden hoses for watering also run around the place, creating potential trips and falls. These areas also need to have a dedicated person to oversee keeping the areas clear and reducing potential trips and falls.
I recently was at a fair that used large tents for livestock and noticed that there weren’t any emergency exit lights at the openings or fire extinguishers mounted around the building. I was told that because it was livestock and temporary structures that it wasn’t required by the local fire marshal. I only mention it to get people thinking about it, and maybe it should be done anyway, because we know better. Just my thoughts on that topic.
My pet peeve on a fairground is unsecured propane and compressed gas cylinders at the food vendors. These cylinders create a potential missile if they tip over and get the valve knocked off. Please have the vendors at your event made aware that if they have exposed tanks that they be secured. This is not an issue in trailer mounted food vendors typically, it is when the food vendor is set up in a tent and has stand alone soda machines with racks of soda and tanks sitting alongside. This is another thing to add to the fair’s safety officer’s check list.
Last year I was working at a fair and there was bad weather approaching and the fair had a geo fence set up and was able to send out an alert to all the cell phones on the grounds of the potential danger with instructions to seek shelter in one of the buildings. I know not every event can do such a thing but what if we could, wouldn’t that be a great tool to hopefully never have to use?
So, there are a few topics to discuss at the next get together after your committees get back from the convention and discuss the latest and greatest ideas in the industry. I hope that I have touched on something that will help improve your event with these few areas to think about.
I hope that you have gained one piece of information from this short article on safety and can help make our industry safer and better every day. I can be reached via email avery@worldwidesafetygroup.com or at 813-505-3938 for any questions or comments, please feel free to provide feedback to help me better communicate these safety related messages. Remember “Our World Revolves Around Safety!”
What is safe at the fair? The rides always seem to be the first thing that everyone thinks needs the most oversight for inspections and monitoring of operations, but let’s talk about something else that in some events get overlooked. Keep in mind, the rides and attractions are a huge part of our inspection clients at Worldwide Safety Group and are a very important part of keeping the fair running smoothly but that is another article.
Many larger fairs and events have an entire staff of “safety” people whose job it is to monitor traffic, control vehicle movement on the grounds, livestock movement, verify fire lanes are maintained, and monitor the weather for potential damaging winds or storms. These are just the tip of the iceberg of things that the public have no idea that the fair board is monitoring or controlling to keep the attendees seeing the sights, sounds and smells of the event, and not having to worry about the hidden exposures that lurk on every event grounds in the country.
When we are doing a loss control survey for an insurance company of a fair or festival grounds, one of the first places we start looking are the parking lots. Is the areas well-lit at night? Are the parking surfaces even with smooth transitions going from grass to pavement? We look for depressions in the ground, some places call them gopher holes and some places with pavement get potholes. These are potential trips, falls, and ankle breakers. Some events use trams or coaches to transport the people from the parking lots. It should be someone’s job to inspect these vehicles and the seating and the hitch connections between trams. I see trams at a lot of events that don’t have safety chains to keep the coach from rolling away if the connection fails. Are there barriers between coaches to keep people from walking between them and over the connection?
How about the exhibit buildings? Is the floor layout manager in charge of making sure that the exhibitors have not blocked off the exit doors or covered up the fire extinguishers around the building? Maybe this falls under the fair’s safety officer to check all emergency exits, fire extinguishers and emergency lights are functioning properly. The local fire marshal probably is making an annual visit but when the event is about to start, I have seen that they sometimes get sidetracked by the lights and sights of the fair and might overlook something that should be tested or checked. So have your staff go around and double-check everything prior to the event.
The livestock buildings or tents at some events is another area that really needs some oversight at any size event. There are extension cords running every which way to power fans and equipment used during the event. Garden hoses for watering also run around the place, creating potential trips and falls. These areas also need to have a dedicated person to oversee keeping the areas clear and reducing potential trips and falls.
I recently was at a fair that used large tents for livestock and noticed that there weren’t any emergency exit lights at the openings or fire extinguishers mounted around the building. I was told that because it was livestock and temporary structures that it wasn’t required by the local fire marshal. I only mention it to get people thinking about it, and maybe it should be done anyway, because we know better. Just my thoughts on that topic.
My pet peeve on a fairground is unsecured propane and compressed gas cylinders at the food vendors. These cylinders create a potential missile if they tip over and get the valve knocked off. Please have the vendors at your event made aware that if they have exposed tanks that they be secured. This is not an issue in trailer mounted food vendors typically, it is when the food vendor is set up in a tent and has stand alone soda machines with racks of soda and tanks sitting alongside. This is another thing to add to the fair’s safety officer’s check list.
Last year I was working at a fair and there was bad weather approaching and the fair had a geo fence set up and was able to send out an alert to all the cell phones on the grounds of the potential danger with instructions to seek shelter in one of the buildings. I know not every event can do such a thing but what if we could, wouldn’t that be a great tool to hopefully never have to use?
So, there are a few topics to discuss at the next get together after your committees get back from the convention and discuss the latest and greatest ideas in the industry. I hope that I have touched on something that will help improve your event with these few areas to think about.
I hope that you have gained one piece of information from this short article on safety and can help make our industry safer and better every day. I can be reached via email avery@worldwidesafetygroup.com or at 813-505-3938 for any questions or comments, please feel free to provide feedback to help me better communicate these safety related messages. Remember “Our World Revolves Around Safety!”
