Press Releases

Statement of IAAPA President J. Clark Robinson Regarding the Markey Amusement Ride Regulation Bill

ALEXANDRIA, VA. USA (May. 22, 2003) – America ’s amusement park industry is a responsible, regulated one. Besides a thorough set of internal checks, each facility is subject to one or more layers of independent examination, including state and local government, insurance companies, and private safety firms. Under this regulatory system, amusement rides are exceptionally safe, and government data shows that there is virtually no safer form of recreation.

We doubt the federal government could do more to improve on that track record, as does the Brain Injury Association panel that recently studied the matter of park safety at the request of Congressman Markey and concluded that “it is unlikely a federal agency could match” the success of the current regulatory system.

Unfortunately, Mr. Markey’s attempt to expand the jurisdiction of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to include fixed-site rides has very little, if anything, to do with the reality of today’s amusement industry.

In 2002, U.S. amusement parks and attractions hosted more than 300 million guests who took more than three billion rides. Based on these figures and the federal government's latest amusement ride injury statistics, the likelihood of being injured on a ride seriously enough to require hospitalization is over 1 in 24 million. The chance of being fatally injured on a fixed ride is more than 1 in one and a half billion.

The latest CPSC figures indicate no statistically-significant increase in the number of injuries related to fixed-site rides since 1997, despite the fact that parks now provide 240 million more rides per year than in 1997.

Moreover, the CPSC itself doesn’t include 1996 injury figures in its report because sample changes just prior to 1997 make those numbers incomparable to those of later years. This was confirmed by an expert independent evaluation, and the CPSC recognizes this fact.

With regard to information sharing, there are many protocols involving the facilities, manufacturers, and government agencies that result in the reporting of possible or actual problems involving ride safety. Additionally, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) ride standards continue to require reporting within the industry of both incidents and ride-related defects, including notification of all relevant facilities when a ride manifests a manufacturer-related safety issue.

Parks have a long history of reporting incidents to state and local bodies throughout the country, as well as working with government officials and inspectors in a partnership to ensure the safety of their guests.

In addition, IAAPA has initiated a national voluntary incident reporting process for its U.S. parks. The data is being collected by an independent auditor, to ensure its accuracy. We expect to release initial results early this summer, and believe this data will be a valuable addition to the existing public documentation of our outstanding safety record.

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IAAPA is the largest international trade association for permanently situated amusement facilities worldwide. The organization represents over 4,500 facility, supplier, and individual members from more than 90 countries. IAAPA strives to help members improve their efficiency, marketing, safety, and profitability while maintaining the highest possible professional standards in the industry. www.iaapa.org