Best Kind of Theme Park Scrutiny

After a metal cleat tore from the Columbia sailing ship and fatally injured a Disneyland visitor last Christmas Eve, theme park officials said they would be amenable to state regulation of amusement parks. Two Assembly members have introduced bills recently that would provide for such regulation, but only one offers the requisite outside oversight.

The bill, written by Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch), is better than the one offered by Santa Ana Democrat Lou Correa. Torlakson’s bill calls for independent inspections of all amusement parks in California each year. Correa’s bill merely requires parks to file sworn statements each year saying they have performed their own inspections and kept their rides up to state standards.

All sorts of mechanical devices are subject to independent inspection, from elevators to boilers. Rides at amusement parks also would benefit from an extra set of eyes looking at their safety.

Disneyland does appear to have a good safety record. Yet it would be better if it and other amusement parks were required to have independent inspections and to make all serious injuries public. Making that information available at the parks would be a good idea.

Other states do impose those requirements. New Jersey demands that all injuries be reported to the state and lets the public learn the injury record of any park or ride. Ohio requires only reporting of injuries resulting in hospitalization but also inspects rides three times a year.

Businesses deserve to be as free from regulation as possible. But the public deserves to know how safe amusement parks are. Attractions such as Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and others that are heavily dependent on their public images would benefit from being able to point to outside inspections as an endorsement of their safety.

After the Dec. 24 accident, Disneyland agreed to revamp some procedures. One improvement was having an Anaheim police officer in the park permanently and letting police investigate accident scenes, rather than waiting until park workers tidied things up.

Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia already undergoes voluntary reviews every three months by a Los Angeles County inspector and pays the cost of the inspector’s time.

Mandatory, state-required inspections would not prove an undue burden on Disneyland and other amusement parks. But they would be more of a help to the public.