The New York State Department of Labor does safety inspections for all 72 rides at the New York State Fair, and continues inspections each day of the fair. Fairgoers can also check to make sure a ride is safe.
The rides at the fair are run by Wade Shows, which tours the country with traveling rides that are assembled onsite. Eileen Franko, director of safety and health for the state Department of Labor, said there are three parts to every inspection. The first is structural.
“All of the pieces that are on that roller coaster, each one is looked at individually to make sure they’re secured, and don’t need to be re-welded,” Franko said.
Next, Franko said once the rides are put together, they check them again. Finally, they make sure operators are following the rules for each ride, like speed and minimum, maximum heights for riders.
Every ride that's inspected will have a tag near the ride's entrance.
"And that tag will tell you when that ride was inspected, who inspected it," Franko said. "If you don't see the tag, you can ask the people at the booth selling the tickets, whether or not that ride has been inspected."
Franko said there has not been a single patron fatality in her seven years on the job and no rides, this year at the fair, have raised any concerns. But the state Department of Labor did take action in 2017, when a young man was killed at the Ohio State Fair after a ride malfunctioned.
“We didn’t allow those rides to operate in New York State until the manufacturer identified what the issue was and we knew it was corrected,” Franco said.
She added, rides that move around the country, like the ones at the fair, are checked more often than rides at non-moving parks.
