Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Entertainment and
leisure industry
HSEC Ltd and HSL collaborative research for HSE.
Passenger safety on many modern amusement rides depends to a large extent on the performance of the containment/restraint system in holding the passenger in place and preventing ejection. Under high g-forces and rapid changes in direction there can also be a potential for passengers to impact upon structures comprising the containment system eg striking their head against shoulder restraints. Finally there are also conditions under which passengers who reach out of a containment system may sustain impact injuries if they contact an object. The risks of injury associated with all three of these issues are dependent on the suitability of the containment system to the ride.
The suitability of a particular containment system depends on several factors, primarily:
Variations in any of these factors may alter the effectiveness of a specific containment and restraint system.
We are seeking help from within the fairground and leisure industry. Please click on the relevant link to read about how you could help our study:
We anticipate two main ways of ride controllers being able to help our study. This page details those ways, however, should any controller feel they could provide further contribution to our work, please contact us. Contact details can be found at the bottom of the page.
We aim to use accident data confidentially provided to us by controllers to increase confidence in predicting likely behaviours and accidents on different types of rides.
The type of information we would like includes (but is not limited to):
This information could be taken directly by the ride controller and faxed, e-mailed or mailed to HSEC Ltd, at the addresses shown below. However, where this is impractical due to the amount of rides or incidents a controller may have, a more convenient format can be given to HSEC Ltd for us to extract the information. This could be in the most convenient format to the controller, such as accident report sheets or log books.
Accident data supplied directly to HSEC Ltd will be filtered confidentially before admission of the data to the project; therefore any information regarding the controller would be omitted. Any further requests for specific data to be excluded could be accommodated according to the controller’s requests. A copy of the sanitised version of the accident data can be provided back to the controller if requested, prior to inclusion in the project.
HSEC Ltd would like to hear from any ride controllers who would be able to contribute their accident data to our study.
The study will also involve identifying information regarding ride dimensions and forces that are not currently in the extensive ride databases existing within HSEC Ltd and HSL, and we will be aiming to visit those rides and attractions to obtain those missing details. This may mean that you will be contacted during the study to request access to your ride for measurement purposes. Any visits made to a controller’s ride will be made as convenient as possible to the operator, with minimal disruption guaranteed. Again, any confidentiality concerns you may have can be discussed with HSEC Ltd in advance. We hope that by helping us in this way, the industry can gain a tool that can be both useful and usable.
There may be instances whereby ride controllers already have information regarding estimated ride forces. Where this is likely to be information not known to HSEC Ltd or HSL, this would be a valuable addition to our study.
The questionnaire for ride attendants and operators below can be filled in and returned to us by fax, post or email. This questionnaire will be optionally anonymous, and asks about behaviours and incidents that attendants might expect to see on a ride. We would like ride controllers to inform their attendants about our questionnaire on this website, or to pass on copies of the questionnaire to their attendants. We are anticipating an incentive prize draw for attendants who return completed questionnaires.
Thank you for any assistance you can provide us with. We look forward to hearing your views on the final output of the study.
The final tool that we develop aims to be usable by manufacturers and designers to allow them to determine the dimensions of their rides in a practicable manner, as early as the design stage. It is the aim of the research to minimise costly modifications that sometimes need to be made after the ride has been produced. It is envisaged that the tool will also enable designers and manufacturers to determine height restrictions for their rides, and equally be given some of the crucial dimensions of different types of rides, based on a given height restriction.
We would like to hear from any manufacturers who have existing tools or techniques that they currently use to aid their design from a containment perspective, and are willing to discuss those methods. All information will be kept strictly confidential, and any confidentiality concerns can be discussed in advance.
For more information about the project, or to discuss any comments or contributions you may have, please contact one of the project managers:
Dianne Williams
Health, Safety & Engineering Consultants Ltd.
70 Tamworth Road
Ashby-de-la-Zouch
Leicestershire
LE66 2PR
Dianne.Williams@hsec.co.uk
01530 412777
01530 415592
Edmund Milnes
Health and Safety Laboratory
Harpur Hill
Buxton, Derbyshire
SK17 9JN
Edmund.milnes@hsl.gov.uk
01298 218361
01298 218361