Welcome to the IAAPA special edition of the Safety Corner, its hard to believe it has been a year already since the last big get together in Orlando. This has been a great season on the park side and on the Carnival side of our business. In the spring we are so looking forward to another year of making money and memories and in the fall, we can’t wait for the season to be over. I always say it’s “an awful hard way to make an easy living”.

So, as I’m writing this, we are in the final stretch of State Fair inspections, this week we have three State Fairs opening again just like several other weeks in the summer. I am so blessed to have a team of great associates and great clients. As we do our inspections whether as state certifications or just another set of eyes for the Fair, we have again seen all kinds of things and maybe we can talk about some of them as a recap to hopefully share something to make your Carnival or fair or event or park a safer place.

We all know that Trips and Falls is the number one claim in our industry and many other industries, and I believe if you’ve been reading my short articles for a while, I’ve gotten the point across to look for these potential issues and address them by whatever means necessary. Highlighting leading edges is the best way to identify the potential trip and fall hazard, and smoothing out the surface is another. So enough about trips and falls, we can all agree it’s an area we can improve upon and it’s an ever-changing environment.

Here is something you might not think of looking at, that we have seen a lot of at fairs and this will apply to parks as well. The bathrooms doesn’t matter what gender it is, we should be looking at them from the safety standpoint. Although I have found in my few days of doing inspections and random visits to waterparks and amusement parks that it is a proven fact that ladies or women’s restrooms are always nastier than a men’s restroom. Sorry if this is a sore subject but it’s a fact! Ask your cleaning crew and when I first heard that years ago, I didn’t believe it, but it has been proven time and again. But that’s not my point, it’s just a little side education. We can talk about how many of you asked around and found out that truth in another edition.
But how many facilities have a checklist for the restrooms, how many daily checks are made of the Stall doors to make sure they are not falling off or have missing hardware. What about the toilet seats? Are they all tight, I know I’ve had some close calls before with a loose seat and came close to pinching something and it wasn’t the loaf I went in to pinch. And the number one thing that I had pounded into my head years ago by an industry legend, how many check the baby changing station. Checking the strap and buckles, checking that the fold down table is working properly and doesn’t fall so the child will roll off. Think about it and check your policy and procedures for the restrooms at your facility, it doesn’t matter park, fair or event all should be checking them.

One other thing that we see is some facilities will number the stalls, the urinals and even the sinks. I think that is a great way to identify things for maintenance and inspection purposes just like identifying rider positions. It’s funny how some facilities will have the newer restrooms all identified and then you go to a different part of the facility, and they don’t have the stuff identified. Remember being consistent in whatever you do is very important and will help when something happens, and you can show what a great maintenance or inspection program you have.

Another area that sometimes gets overlooked at fairs is the back of house areas as far as safety related issues. Several vendors will have compressed gas cylinders for carbonated beverages etc. and they will have the cylinders leaning against something or just freely standing next to the booth. These tanks must be secured, and I always recommend that the Fair put it in the vendor agreement that they secure all cylinders. It goes the same for amusement parks that have special events or pop-up vendors or stands that are not permanent. These cylinders will have the connection break and it becomes a rocket through the crowd, the building, the trailer, whatever it encounters. There are good videos available if you just search for them. Once you see it you won’t ever forget to be on the lookout to reduce the chance of it happening on your watch.

How about electrical boxes, on fairgrounds the electrical panels are always near the trailers or tents for the vendors, and they always seem to be blocked by something, a prep area, a freezer, a storage container, etc. The electrical panels per the National electric code must have 36 inches of clear space in front of the panel. This is true inside of buildings as well as outdoor events. We find that the local inspectors sometimes overlook these things, but codes and standards have been put in place to make us safer and sometimes protect us from ourselves. Have someone from your team verify proper clearances and ease of access in the event of an incident and they need to turn the power off. We won’t get into arch flash and safety signage at this time but that’s a whole article in itself. That’s just my take on it anyways.

How about fire connections on a fairground, there is a great topic. I’m at a fair currently that has fire hydrants and connections that are blocked by vendor tents and dumpsters. When we say something as the hired safety person it’s normally responded to with an answer along the lines of well it’s been that way for 20 years and none of the other inspectors ever had a problem with it. I have no authority, I’m just an advisor so I have done my part to let the parties involved know about the situation and let them figure out a remedy. So, take this back to your facility and see what you see.

How about fire extinguishers I see them all over the place, but I have a trained eye, but what about the person that is in a panic looking for one? How do they find one. When they are inside of buildings mounted on beams of the structure, they generally are only visible if directly in front of the thing. I always recommend that the posts be placarded on all sides to identify the location of the fire extinguisher. Some facilities will paint a red line around the structure up above the obstructions so you can see it looking through a large building the columns or posts that have fire extinguishers.

Another great example of identifying fire extinguishers is to include the P.A.S.S instructions on how to use a fire extinguisher at the location. Pull, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep. I have seen these signs at many facilities, and it is a good reminder for people that have been trained how to use one and a quick cheat sheet for those that haven’t been officially trained. If your company doesn’t have a training program for how to use a fire extinguisher maybe that is something, you can put in the suggestion box or bring up at the next company meeting.

Another thing we see at Fairs and parks is forklifts being used. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people driving a forklift down the midway holding a cellphone talking away with the forks way up and no seat belt on. It’s maybe just as bad as drinking and driving. I haven’t seen that yet on a forklift, but the year isn’t over yet. We do forklift training classes for a few of our clients and all those things are a no no in the safe operation of a forklift. So, ask yourself, do we have a training program and if we do is anyone monitoring to see that our drivers are complying with their training.

Another area that we see at both fairs and parks are shuttles or people movers, whether they are wagons pulled by farm tractors or trolly trains. We look at the people movers for the basic simple stuff highlighted steps, signage “keep hands and legs inside at all times” etc. but we also look at the hitch connections, the safety chains and hooks, the drive units etc. Does the driver have mirrors to see the wagon behind him, is there a second attendant riding in the back with a PA system. These are all things to consider when looking at these people movers. Some fairs we go to have people walking in front of the tractors clearing the path for the shuttles, other fairs just drive right down the midway and hope for the best.

Whatever your facility’s policy is just make sure that someone is performing inspections of the people movers and that the drivers are well trained on the route and the potential hazards they may encounter along the route. Have you ever seen a tram full of people going down a hill and then say I sure hope they have good brakes on that thing. Several trams I’ve seen don’t have brakes on the trailers, just the tractor or the pulling unit. Hopefully those have been inspected. Just another thing to get you thinking about ways to improve safety at your facility.

So, we covered a lot of different things to look for in this edition, and I can go on for pages of things we have seen but we have more exciting issues to come, and I want to save my bullets for another day. These articles help me to share my thoughts and again I hope in some small way it makes a difference. I like hearing from our readers, and I still don’t claim to be a writer, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it, but please let me know what you think.

I hope that you 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!”