Oklahoma ride operators must be state certified

That's not a bad idea. At all.

Hopefully Jeremy Reid will be unaffected. :)

Sounds like a good idea on peper, but would the inspectors be certified as well? You could have a state inspector who's clueless.

The Department of Labor has established rules for inspectors, at least for insurance inspectors, which indicate that such inspectors must be licensed by the Department of Labor, and must have five years of amusement ride inspection in the last seven years. The rules also indicate that the operators must be qualified in accordance with ASTM F 770 (although the practice designation is not included in the OK rules).

Oh, and here's another item. 380:55-15-5 lists the qualifications for a "Political Subdivision Inspector" as follows:

(A) Must be employed by city, county, or other recognized governmental entity
(B) Must be empowered to order and enforce cessation of ride operation due to unsafe condition
(C) Must be National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials (NAARSO) certified inspector level I (basic)
(D) Must pass a written examination covering Oklahoma amusement ride laws

There are similar requirements for other types of inspectors. An insurance inspector actually has to have a NAARSO Level II. The State Department of Labor inspector merely has to meet the State employment requirements. Don't know if that means NAARSO certification as well, those qualifications do not appear to be written into the law. Oh, and for the record, I do think the NAARSO inspector certification program is a pretty good one.

I haven't looked over the details of the new OK rules, but provided that they have a system in place that allows the operators to get the certifications in a timely manner, I can't say I think this is a bad idea.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Okay. I was just wondering who would "inspect the inspectors."

It's hard to find fault with the concept, but it's the details that you have to be careful of. Consider: If a carnival is short-handed (and they all always are) on Saturday night on a holiday weekend, and some guy walks in off the midway and asks for a job, does the certification program allow the carnival to hire the guy on the spot, give him the necessary training, and immediately put him to work as, say, a loader on the Musik Express, without having to wait for the State's +approval? OK's ride laws appear to be written with that kind of flexibility in mind, but the new certification rules are not in the text available to me on the web right now...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.