Rethink safety regime for amusement park and fair rides
The existing framework places all responsibility for safety on owners/operators, and very little on the local administration and city police
The death of a woman who fell from a ride at an amusement park in the Capital should prompt a rethink of the regulatory framework that governs safety at such parks and temporary fairs featuring similar rides. There have been quite a few mishaps in recent years, across India, and preventing new ones would need more robust assurance of safety.
The existing framework -- largely similar for rides at amusement parks and temporary fairs -- places all responsibility for safety and liability in case of mishaps on the park owners and ride operators. This is not to say that they should have reduced onus. Indeed, they owe every effort to ensure safety to the ride-goers. But the fact is that local civil and police administration have been vested with very little accountability in the current framework. In Delhi, the licensing system for rides (annual renewal required for amusement parks) is based on the operator/park owner applying to the city police, which forwards the application to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). MCD engineers then undertake a one-time, almost entirely visual inspection for clearance, following which the licence is issued. While they are required to undertake load tests with sandbags, as the Hindustan Times has reported citing a former MCD official, these are often skipped -- and the sandbag tests themselves may not be adequate given the rising complexity of the rides. The situation is no different elsewhere.
Missing in all of this is a requirement for the corporation to periodically and scientifically assess the safety of technology, operations, and the skill-level of ride-operators. Wear and tear of moving parts and other sources of malfunction can’t be left to chance detection, that too during annual inspections. There needs to be regular and thorough inspections by the municipal authorities, and compliance enforcement by the police. As long as the system is designed to absolve the two of responsibility, accidents will continue to happen.
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