United States CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20207 MEMORANDUM DATE: JUL 20 1995 TO : James A. DeMarco, CECA Through: Mary Ann Danello, Ph.D., Associate Executive Director Directorate for Epidemiology and Health Sciences Robert E. Frye, Director, Hazard Analysis Division FROM : Suzanne P. Cassidy, EHHA SUBJECT: Deaths and Injuries Associated with Amusement Rides This memorandum provides information on deaths and emergency room-treated injuries associated with amusement rides in calendar year 1994. It updates an earlier memorandum discussing amusement ride incidents for the years 1973 through 1993.1/ "Ride" incidents were limited to those defined by Section 3(a)(1) of the Consumer Product Safety Act as: "...any mechanical device which carries or conveys passengers along, around, or over a fixed or restricted route within a defined area for the purpose of giving its passengers amusement, which is customarily controlled or directed by an individual who is employed for that purpose and who is not a consumer with respect to that device, and which is not permanently fixed to a site." While fixed-site rides are not considered consumer products under the Act, both mobile and fixed-site rides are included in the following analysis for purposes of comparison. Injuries Hospital emergency room data on amusement ride-related injuries for 1994 were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). Free text descriptive comments for all injuries within the amusement attraction (including rides) category were screened to eliminate out-of-scope injuries such as those involving coin-operated rides or attractions usually found at restaurants, shopping malls, and children's play attractions. Injuries associated with alpine and water slide-type amusements, water attractions such as wave machines, "moon walks," and "mechanical bulls" were also eliminated, as well as those where it appeared that playground equipment might have been involved. _____________________ 1/ Cassidy, S., " Deaths and Injuries Associated with Amusement Rides," July 18, 1994. [Page 2] After elimination of the out-of-scope injuries described above, NEISS data show that in 1994 an estimated 7,200 persons were treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries associated with amusement rides. The type of facility (i.e., amusement park, carnival, etc.) was identified in about 60 percent of the records. Of these cases, assuming that rides in permanent theme parks and traditional amusement parks would be fixed-site types and that rides at carnivals would be mobile, NEISS comments show that for 1994 just over half (54 percent) of the injuries occurred at fixed site locations, with about 46 percent involving mobile rides such as those typically found at carnivals and fairs. Most injuries appeared to be minor for both mobile and fixed rides, with less than one percent of the victims admitted for hospitalization. (The overall NEISS hospitalization rate for 1994 was about 4 percent.) Appendix A shows a listing of sample cases by state. However, caution must be exercised when using this information since it reflects only actual cases treated in emergency rooms of hospitals participating in the NEISS. It is not a complete count because NEISS hospitals are not located in every state, and in those states with NEISS hospitals the entire area of any of the 36 states is not covered. Thus, it cannot be assumed that the absence of any state from the list indicates that there were no amusement ride injuries in that area. Deaths The Commission's files of in-depth investigations (INDP), death certificates (DTHS), injury or potential injury incidents (IPII) and data from the NEISS contain reports of 98 deaths associated with amusement rides from 1973 through 1994. Two of these fatalities occurred in 1994. The distribution of non-occupational fatalities by year and type of facility is shown in Table 1. A list of fatalities by site and type of ride is shown in Table 2. These numbers do not represent a sample of known probability of selection nor a complete count of all amusement-related deaths, but they do provide some information about the circumstances involved in the incidents. Occupational deaths are not included, but those reported to CPSC indicate that the work-related deaths mostly occurred during assembly or disassembly of the rides. Of the two non-occupational deaths reported for calendar year 1994, both took place at fixed site locations. One occurred in Connecticut in August 1994 when a 6-year-old boy was swept beneath the arm of a car on a whirling type ride. It was reported that another person pushed the "on" button while passing the control panel, causing the ride to begin moving as the child attempted to exit the ride. The other fatality was in South Carolina in July 1994 and involved a 6-year-old girl who fell from a bumper boat at an amusement park and drowned when her shirt apparently caught in the propeller, holding her under water. (In addition to these fatalities, in 1994, a death recently occurred on July 1, 1995, when a 14-year-old girl fell 25 feet to her death from a roller coaster at a fixed-site amusement park in Missouri.) [Page 3] Appendix B is a listing of the 29 reported fatalities associated with mobile rides for the period 1973 through 1994. As stated earlier, these rides, found at facilities such as carnivals and fairs, are considered consumer products under the Consumer Product Safety Act. In addition, 46 deaths during the 1973-1994 period were classified as fixed-site rides, and in 23 cases the type of facility could not be determined from available inforrnation. Attachments [Page 4] Table 1 AMUSEMENT RIDES NON-OCCUPATIONAL FATALITIES REPORTED BY YEAR AND TYPE OF FACILITY 1973- 1994 Year Total Mobile Fixed Unknown _______________________________________________________ Total 98 29 46 23 1994 2 -- 2 -- 1993 2 1 1 -- 1992 1 1 -- -- 1991 3 -- 3 -- 1990 -- -- -- -- 1989 3 -- 3 -- 1988 5 3 2 -- 1987 4 -- 4 -- 1986 5 4 -- 1 1985 2 1 1 -- 1984 5 3 2 -- 1983 5 1 4 -- 1982 2 1 1 -- 1981 8 3 3 2 1980 5 1 3 1 1979 7 4 3 -- 1978 15 2 10 3 1977 5 2 1 2 1976 9 -- 2 7 1975 1 -- 1 -- 1974 6 1 -- 5 1973 3 1 -- 2 Source: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), Death Certificate, In-Depth Investigation, and Injury and Potential Injury Incident Files, 1973-1994 U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission [Page 5] Table 2 AMUSEMENT RIDES NON-OCCUPATIONAL FATALITIES BY SITE AND TYPE OF RIDE 1973 - 1994 Type Total Mobile Fixed Unknown __________________________________________________________________ Total 98 29 46 23 Whirling Rides 29 17 9 3 Roller Coasters 25 1 16 8 Ferris Wheels 12 5 2 5 Tramways, Skyrides 5 -- 5 -- Bumper Cars 2 -- 2 -- Other 10 -- 9 1 Unknown 15 6 3 6 Source: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), In-Depth Investigation, Death Certificate, and Injury and Potential Injury Incident Files, 1973-1994, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission [Page 6] Appendix A NON-OCCUPATIONAL AMUSEMENT RIDE INJURIES - 1994 NUMBER OF SAMPLE CASES BY STATE AND TYPE OF RIDE 1/ State Total Mobile Fixed Unknown ___________________________________________________________________ Alabama 3 -- 2 1 Arizona 12 10 -- 2 California 3 1 1 1 Connecticut 5 1 2 2 Georgia 7 -- 5 2 Illinois 6 4 -- 2 Indiana 5 2 1 2 Iowa 1 -- -- 1 Maryland 13 5 3 5 Massachusetts 1 -- -- 1 Michigan 6 4 1 1 Minnesota 3 1 2 -- Mississippi 3 1 -- 2 Missouri 1 -- 1 -- New Jersey 26 1 24 1 New York 16 5 8 3 North Carolina 6 1 3 2 Ohio 4 2 2 -- Pennsylvania 11 -- 8 3 Rhode Island 17 -- 17 -- South Dakota 1 -- -- 1 Tennessee 3 -- 2 1 Texas 3 -- -- 3 Utah 2 -- -- 2 Virginia 2 2 -- 2 Washington 4 -- 1 3 Wisconsin 1 1 -- -- Wyoming 2 2 -- -- 1/ This table reflects only actual cases treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms participating in the NEISS during 1994. It does not show total estimated injuries nor is it a complete count since NEISS hospitals are not located in every state and, in states with NEISS hospitals, the entire state area is not covered. Source: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 1994, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission [Page 7] Appendix B NON-OCCUPAIIONAL MOBILE AMUSEMENT RIDE FATALTIIES, 1973 THROUGH 1994 NUMBER OF CASES BY DATE, STATE, VICTIM AND TYPE OF RIDE Victim Year 1/ State Age/Sex Type of Ride Document No. ___________________________________________________________________ 1973 New York unk. F whirling K7C0548 1974 Ohio 20 F ferris wheel 439052827 1977 Alabama 14 F unknown 701012519 1977 Pennsylvania 14 F whirling 7708260PD7133 1978 Wisconsin 21 M ferris wheel 780818AOR1218 1978 North Carolina 57 M unknown 837038890 1979 Pennsylvania 6 M whirling 790612CEP0843 1979 Wisconsin 3 M ferris wheel 790712HIA0828 1979 Montana 7 F unknown 930004131 1979 Arkansas 26 M whirling 791004SEA5002 1980 New York 24 M ferris wheel 800513HLA0006 1981 New Hampshire 15 F whirling 810708CEP1264 1981 Pennsylvania 19 M whirling 830524CCC1191 1981 Wisconsin 3 M whirling 810923CEP2310 1982 Florida 22 F whirling 850819HCC3409 1983 Texas 19 M whirling 831019DAL5008 1984 Illinois 36 M whirling 840605CHI0859 1984 North Dakota 9 M roller coaster 840730CHI1114 1984 Minnesota 22 M ferris wheel 851212HCCl058 1985 Texas 18 F unknown 548070157 1986 Michigan 23 M unknown G670254A2 1986 Colorado 65 M merry go round 608015205 1986 Utah 9 M unknown 649005703 1986 Florida 26 M unknown 871013CCC0019 1988 Florida 15 M whirling 880331CCC0266 1988 Georgia 4 F whirling 880517CEN1089 1988 Florida 17 F whirling 881125NYC5011 1992 New Mexico 22 F whirling 920730CWE6001 1993 Texas 50 M unknown 348090 1/ No fatalities were reported for mobile rides in 1975, 1976, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1994. Source: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), Death Certificate, In-Depth Investigation, and Injury or Potential Injury Incident Files, 1973-l994, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission