“Training? What's that?” Haywood said with a chuckle.Ĭompanies like NAME All-Star Amusement are required to maintain logs of their recordable incidents, which range from minor episodes like slipping and falling on stairs to more severe accidents like having a limb severed. “Additionally, we are very proud to say that our safety procedures and protocols are the most comprehensive in the industry.”īut three former NAME All-Star Amusement employees told K圜IR they never received formal training. “NAME has always invested in being industry leaders with our safety checks, regulations and training,” Franc said. Lynda Franc, NAME’s corporate marketing director, touted the company’s safety measures in an emailed statement. “When we have one reported incident made to the fair board, it's of concern and of interest in understanding what happened,” Cox said. Ian Cox, a spokesperson from the Kentucky Exposition Center, said the Fair Board has been in a working relationship with NAME for 13 years but was not aware of NAME All-Star Amusement’s worker injury record. Records don’t show how many of those injuries occurred in Kentucky, and the subsidiary runs fairs in at least seven states.īut overall, the injuries caused 150 days of total missed work for the amusement company’s employees since 2014. Haywood’s injury at last summer’s state fair was one of 19 the company reported last year, and one of 70 since 2014, according to the company’s injury logs provided by Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health. KY OSH also found that NAME All-Star Amusement had not inspected its Fireball ride since 2015 - not even after a fairgoer died in Ohio after a Fireball gondola run by a different ride company detached. Worker safety inspectors found employees were given deficient training and had deficient procedures for its machines, state records show. The NAME subsidiary that runs Kentucky’s fair, All-Star Amusement, was initially fined $7,000 by Kentucky’s Occupational Safety and Health inspectors for three serious violations after Haywood’s injury. “It's a ride that I enjoy setting up and a ride that I enjoy running.”īut soon he would be fighting to catch his breath as several of the Fireball’s other ride operators were scrambling to shut it down again and lift up one of the ride’s heaviest platforms to save Haywood’s life. “I was excited because I mean, that's the ride that I learned on,” Haywood said. Haywood was tasked with setting up and running the controversial ride by his employer, North American Midway Entertainment (NAME), last summer at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds. Within minutes, Haywood was pinned, his body bent in half under the weight of the ride. The Fireball ride had been running for just over an hour at the 2018 Kentucky State Fair when something went wrong, and ride operator Duanne Haywood and a few other workers went underneath.
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