Tragic accident at Ohio State Fair

[Unagi]

A horrible accident involving a KMG Fireball/Afterburner yesterday left one person dead and seven injured.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-ohio-fair-ride-20170727-story.html

Here's video of the accident.  It's very graphic so watch at your own risk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QV_zTsmr1Q

 

[Nicole]

I've never had much confidence in state fair rides, to be honest.

This is just so terrible.

 

[Pretzel Kaiser]

I saw that Hershypark has closed their's as a precaution.

 

[Zimmy]

CNN video

I have always joked about fair rides being sketchy, heck PK and I went to the VA state fair a couple years ago and were excited to see bolts flying out of the gravitron, but this is a whole different thing.

 

[Unagi]

I saw that Hershypark has closed their's as a precaution.

KMG, the manufacturer of the ride, has ordered all of them to cease operations for now.  The State of Tennessee has banned them as well.

http://nbc4i.com/2017/07/27/manufacturer-instructs-ride-operators-not-to-run-fire-ball-type-rides/

 

[Unagi]

Here's pic of the ride where it broke apart.  I really don't see how state inspectors could've caught this.

 

[Merboy]

If they can set it up and take it down in a single night I will not ride.

 

[Unagi]

As much as the video hurt to watch, it appeared the station floor raised prematurely before the ride finished its cycle.

After closely watching the video several times slowed down at .25, I don't think the floor was raised at all. You can see the legs of the riders still above it. It appears that the car that broke off impacted the floor before riders were thrown off. It's hard to tell though since the camera wasn't on the side of where it happened.

 

[Pretzel Kaiser]

Hershypark's Claw has been reopened.

 

[Zimmy]

So it seems that the problem was corrosion. Particularly concerning considering that they had just inspected the damned thing. It really hammers home the notion that it is not enough to inspect but to have a proven inspection process.

 

[MAZ]

I agree Zimmy. Learning from mistakes through corrective action process development is key. Especially when safety is the concern.