Alabama Cracks Down on Theme Park Regulation

The state of Alabama is moving to regulate theme park attractions in a whole new way.

The theme park attraction industry is one of the safest in the world, with intense regulations that hold ride manufacturers to the utmost standard of safety. This makes injuries on attractions and accidents exceedingly rare, although they do happen. In the likely and unfortunate event of an injury or death, it generates national headlines and lengthy lawsuits that can be frightening to the average theme park goer.

Alabama lawmakers are hoping to minimize this as much as they can by introducing new legislation that covers a wide range of theme park regulations. The legislation, pitched in the Alabama House and Senate, would remove Alabama from the list of only three states remaining without any kind of regulations for amusement park rides.

“This bill has not been generated because there are safety issues (at Alabama parks),” said State Rep. Alan Baker, sponsor of HB352, which was approved by the Alabama House on Tuesday. “That’s where many of these legislations (in other states) surface, with an incident,” Baker said. “But that wasn’t the impetus behind this bill. It was more of having our state pursuing the safety of the public, and we felt this was a good step in the right direction to codify best-existing safety practices.”

The regulations follow standard guidelines and practices from ASTM International (formerly American Society for Testing and Materials), which is utilized by many states already. Some lawmakers are hopeful that more regulations can be adopted, including some regarding weight and size limitations for attractions, citing the tragic incident in ICON Park in Orlando last year.

Highlights within the legislation include:

• Amusement rides and water slides are to be inspected by a qualified inspector at least once a year.

• After a satisfactory inspection, the inspector is to issue a certificate to the ride’s owner certifying that the ride or slide complies with all that is statutorily required through ASTM standards and is “reasonably safe for public use.”

• No patron can be admitted to an amusement ride or water slide if it has undergone a major modification until it receives a new inspection certificate.

• If a ride is deemed unsafe, an inspector is not to issue an inspection certificate until the unsafe conditions have been rectified.

• Owners have to maintain liability insurance of $500,000 for bodily injury or death of one individual in each occurrence and not less than $1 million for bodily injury or death of two or more individuals in each occurrence.

The legislation also covers Guest behavior, which has increasingly become a problem at small and major theme parks alike. It gives Parks the legal power to remove patrons from attractions should their behavior be deemed unsafe, including, but not limited to;

• Interfering with the operation of the amusement ride or water slide.

• Failing to engage any provided safety device.

• Disconnecting or disabling a safety device except at the instruction of an operator.

• Extending arms or legs beyond the carrier or seating area, except at the express instruction of an operator.

• Throwing, dropping, or expelling any object from or toward an amusement ride or water slide.

• Entering or exiting an amusement ride or water slide except at the designated time and area at the direction of an operator or in an emergency.

• Unreasonably controlling the speed or direction of himself or herself if the amusement ride or water slide requires the patron to control or direct himself or herself.

• Riding while under the influence of alcohol or any other intoxicating substance.

According to the National Safety Council’s 2021 safety report for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), the chances of being seriously injured on an amusement ride are 1 in 15.5 million rides taken.