High, Wide and Safe

By Jon Melegrito

Inspectors at Wisconsin's carnivals make certain that when you climb onto a scary ride, you also climb down at the end.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

The night before the largest carnival in the state of Wisconsin is to open, Shirley Noltemeyer gathers her six-person team of inspectors to go over unfinished business. They are a little worried that some of the roller coaster-type rides have not been completely assembled. In the past 48 hours, they have combed the Midway, a football-size field at the north end of State Fair Park, where amusement rides of all shapes, sizes and speeds were being unloaded, assembled and erected.

Noltemeyer and five colleagues — Scott Armacher, Terry Clark, Timothy Condon, Vernon Lemke and David Vriezen — serve as the state of Wisconsin's Occupational Safety Inspectors. They have more than 45 years of combined work experience, each one bringing impressive knowledge and technical expertise. All members of AFSCME Local 333 (Council 24), their job is to make sure these rides are safe for the 1 million visitors expected to pour into the park in the next 10 days. "Who can get down here by 7 o'clock tomorrow morning?" Noltemeyer asks her co-workers. No one objects. They'll be there at 7.

Before they split for the night, however, Clark hands out copies of safety bulletins to his co-workers. He has been researching the Internet to stay abreast of trends in the amusement industry. Through e-mail correspondence, for instance, he learned about two people who got thrown out of the Wisdom Whirlwind in San Jose, Calif. The cables on a swing ride broke.

"Knowledge gives us confidence to do our job," Clark says. "I don't go home if I don't feel good about a particular ride. I go back and find out. It could cost a life." This sense of duty, along with a team spirit, is one major reason Wisconsin has the best safety record in the nation.

The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission recently found that in the past four years, the number of injuries at U.S. amusement parks has nearly doubled.

Dramatizing this fact was a recent NBC "Dateline" investigation, which focused on the death of a young girl on a carnival ride. "Dateline" reported the lack of federal regulations that control the amusement ride industry. For instance, if California officials shut down a particular ride that has been cited repeatedly for physical defects, the owner can move to another state and reopen for business. As "Dateline" reported, this is exactly what happened with the ride that resulted in the girl's death. The cause was a defective lap bar, of which the ride operator was aware but failed to fix.

Noltemeyer's team of inspectors is not about to let anything like this happen in Wisconsin. In fact, in the long history of the state fair, there have been no major accidents involving amusement rides. "I know only of minor scratches and twisted ankles," says Joanne Dunn, an emergency medical technician who has worked at the fair for 12 years. "That's mainly because people get a little giddy and don't watch where they are going."

Ride operators agree. "We don't allow people under the influence to ride our Orbiter," says owner Daniel Wolf. "Those inspectors are right on top of problems and keep us all in line," adds his wife Sandy. To which Noltemeyer replies, "We sleep better at night knowing all the pins are in place."

So for three days in early August, Noltemeyer's team checked and double-checked all 60 rides at the Wisconsin fair. Half of them, like the Merry-Go-Round and Tilt-A-Wheel, are for kids. The other half are more what the trade terms "spectacular" — like the Cliff Hanger, an adult ride that swings high in the air. The park favorite is the Zipper. "It's the scariest," says 15-year-old Titania Jones, who's been coming to the fair for four years now. "But I like it, ‘cause when you get on top and it goes upside down, you feel like you might fall out."

Precisely because these rides are dangerous, inspectors must do a thorough job. They begin by checking registration records and reviewing files. Then they fan out in teams of two. "Each ride could take anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours to inspect," says Clark. "You have to know each one like a person."

Among the things the inspectors looked for: worn-out gears, missing pins, faulty locks and leaking fluid. In other words, defects that might keep a ride from operating safely, or at all. Among the troubling things they find: cracks in the Spider "sweeps" — the arms that move around like wings. "A car door could fly open due to hinge breaks," Clark says. He immediately got a certified welder to fix it.

Throughout the inspection, Noltemeyer and her team chat amiably with ride operators and owners, pointing out problems like electrical hazards and inadequate fencing. They also contend with Mother Nature, which showers her blessing that afternoon. Inspections must go on, rain or shine.

By opening day, no ride has been shut down. But just to make sure, Noltemeyer was hanging around, maintaining close contact with medical teams and park police.

The team members, declares Wayne Romeis, the inspector of police stationed at the park, "do an excellent job." And the cops follow their recommendations: "If they find a safety problem, yes, we shut that ride down."

As the state's deputy division administrator of safety and buildings, team supervisor Ron Buchholz oversees the enforcement of OSHA regulations in the public sector. Wisconsin's excellent safety record, Buchholz says, is due in large part to effective state regulation. He also cites the state's good relationship with ride owners and operators. "We work very well with the inspectors," adds Paul Bowman, general manager of Murphy Brothers Expo, the company that has been running the Midway for years.

To make sure high standards are maintained, the state regularly sends the inspectors to training sessions conducted at the annual National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials conference.

Noltemeyer's co-workers are extremely proud of the job they do as AFSCME workers. As Clark puts it, "We're very picky."

Prior to his becoming an inspector, he had worked as a brakeman for railroads. "Part of my job is to worry," adds Condon, who was promoted to senior inspector last year. "We are another set of eyes for the industry."

Armacher says, "My three kids think what I do is cool." He has been in the safety and security business for over 20 years. Vriezen, the newest member of the team, is pleased that in his current job, "I get listened to, very seriously."

Apart from carnival inspections, which they do from April through August, the inspectors check ski lifts during winter months and conduct workers' compensation investigations throughout the year.

Noltemeyer takes off her raincoat. After two days of intermittent rain, the sun has finally appeared. She smiles and says, "It's going to be a good and safe day at the park."