Before any ride at the Jefferson City Jaycees Fair starts to spin or twirl, it must be inspected.
Larry Watson, an inspector with the state fire marshal's office, spent Monday going over the rides of Miller Spectacular Shows, which operates the carnival at the Cole County fair.
The Missouri Division of Fire Safety is designated by state law to perform spot inspections of fair rides. Watson has inspected hundreds of rides this summer, looking for anything that may pinch, scratch or hurt somebody.
"Along with our inspections, the rides must be checked every day by their operators before they open," he said. "The operators also have to have proper documentation on maintenance of the rides."
Watson said the rides also have to be run in front of the inspectors.
"The most common thing we see are problems with broken restraints or seat belts," he said. "Usually they are repaired before the rides open up, but they can operate if the operator makes sure that car or seat is not used while the ride is in operation."
Watson, who has been doing inspections for 35 years, said they try to do two spot inspections of every ride with paperwork filed in Missouri.
"As long as I have been doing this I've only shut down three rides," he said. "They (fair operators) maintain their rides pretty good. If they didn't, they wouldn't stay in business."
A fatal accident involving a ride at the Ohio State Fair last week might have left some feeling queasy about getting in line for fair rides. The ride operating company's owner later stated the Fire Ball ride that killed one man and injured seven other people when it broke apart had experienced a mechanical failure, despite a routine check by third-party inspectors before the fair opened.
Last week, Watson and five other inspectors checked out 42 rides at the Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield, where another Fire Ball ride was shut down as a precaution. No similar rides are set to be used at the Missouri State Fair or Jefferson City Jaycees Fair, where Watson inspected 25 rides Monday before it opened for business.
"Every day, even though we're not out here to do an inspection, they have a certified inspector that checks every one of these rides before they open," he said. "That's part of the national standard for fair operations. There has to be a third-party independent inspector for their operating certificate. The state only does spot inspections. These guys (the fair show operators) have to send us an itinerary of every stop they make in Missouri."
Watson said he's known the owners of Miller Spectacular Shows for many years.
"You can look at his equipment and know that's properly maintained," he said. "If we have a problem, he never hesitates to jump right in and get it taken care of."