The failure of a carnival ride at the Ohio State Fair last month that led to the death of a recently enlisted Marine was determined to be corrosion. This was the conclusion reached by the manufacturer KMG.  The ride in question had more than 18 years in service and the interior walls had “excessive corrosion on the interior of the gondola support beam that had dangerously reduced the wall thickness over the years and led to the catastrophic failure of the ride during operation”.

Ohio has ride inspectors from the Department of Agriculture and Michael Vartorella reports that his team oversees 4300 pieces of equipment in the State. He went on to state each piece of equipment is carefully inspected to ensure good working condition of electrical systems, hydraulics including structural integrity as well.  The ride that failed was reportedly inspected 3 or 4 times before the start of the State Fair.  Vartorella insists inspectors did not rush their inspections although the local paper reports that severe rain and flooding delayed inspections until just before the fair opened.  The ride failed on the opening day of the fair.  This was identical to a ride in Operation at the California State Fair and that ride was closed for the duration of our Fair out of an abundance of caution.

We may never know what the Ohio Department of Agriculture considers carefully inspected. At GB Legal we would imagine areas like interior support beam thickness would be carefully examined when it concerns the safety of the very people they are inspecting it for.  If those areas were carefully inspected it begs the question of how carefully the rides and others like it were actually inspected.  An 18 year old enlisted Marine died as a result of this failure and 6 others were badly injured as a result of corrosion and that is unacceptable.

We represent people who are injured because of the careless and reckless acts of others. At the end of the day your case can only be settled one time and you need to know all of the facts beforehand. The reason that insurance companies have paid our clients in excess of $130,000,000.00 is that we get the facts and are not intimidated at the prospect of going to trial when they refuse to follow the law. We help with serious issues that require serious representation. We are the Law Offices of Guenard & Bozarth. We have over 80 years of experience in our plaintiff’s only law firm. Call GB Legal 24/7/365 at 888-809-1075 or visit www.gblegal.com We Can Help!