Links and Resources

Links:	Amusement Ride Safety Organizations Ride Safety Resources for Kids Legislative/Regulatory Links CPSC Reports on Amusement Rides and Devices Standards Development Organizations Amusement Ride Accident Report Websites Industry Trade Groups Child Safety Links Consumer Advocacy Organizations
Resources:	Teaching Tools and Resources for Public Education Resources for Industry

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Amusement Ride Safety Organizations

http://www.cpsc.gov - The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) acts as a clearing house for injury data and monitors the safety of portable amusement rides.
http://uscancares.org - The Council for Amusement and Recreational Equipment Safety (CARES) is a voluntary coalition of regulatory agencies from the United States and Canada, working to standardize record-keeping and link member agencies through an internet database.
http://www.naarso.com - The National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials is a professional association of ride inspectors and regulatory officials. The NAARSO motto is "Safety Through Communication".

Ride Safety Resources For Kids

http://disney.go.com/safety/ - Disney created a delightful safety campaign aimed at children and parents called "Wild About Safety". This set of online cartoons, activities, and printable coloring pages feature Timon and Pumba from The Lion King teaching fun, yet important, lessons about amusement ride safety.
http://saferparks.org/kids_club/ - Kids and parents can click through cartoons featuring the "Saferkids" and their less careful classmates, the "Wrong-Way Riders". Printable activity sheets are available as well.

Legislative/Regulatory Links

http://www.house.gov/writerep - Find out who represents your district in the U.S. House of Representatives, and how to contact that person.
http://www.senate.gov - Find out how to contact your U.S. Senators.
http://www.house.gov/markey - Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), author of pending federal legislation, "The National Amusement Park Ride Safety Act".
http://www.cpsc.gov - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is responsible for federal safety oversight of portable amusement rides. (Note: amusement park rides and commercial waterslides are exempt from federal safety regulation).
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/amuse.pdf - The CPSC's Directory of State Amusement Ride Safety Officials. This document can point you to state agencies responsible for regulating amusement rides.
Saferparks-compiled information on state regulations:

CPSC Reports on Amusement Rides and Devices

Standards Development Organizations

http://www.astm.org - ASTM International is the engineering standards organization that oversees the F-24 committee which develops standards for Amusement Rides and Devices used in the United States and other countries.
http://www.iso.org - International Standards Organization (ISO) develops International Standards for Business, Government and Society. ISO does not produce amusement ride standards, but does produce a wide array of supporting standards.
http://www.csa.ca - The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and safety officials from Canadian provinces are working with ASTM International to develop a harmonized standard for amusement rides that uses ASTM F-24 documents in combination with local requirements.
http://www.standards.org.au - Standards Australia (SA) develops safety standards for amusement rides and devices operated in Australia.
http://www.cen.eu/cenorm/homepage.htm - European Committee for Standardization developed EN 13814: Fairground and Amusement Park Machinery and Structures - Safety.
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) hosts and promotes a Disney-led industry effort to harmonize safety standards for amusement rides and devices, using the ASTM F-24 standards as the baseline. For more information, read the following article from IAAPA's online magazine:
- Funworld Magazine: Coming Together for Safety

Amusement Ride Websites

http://www.rideaccidents.com - Jared Costanza's Amusement Ride Accident Reports and News website, described as "the world's single most comprehensive, detailed, updated, accurate, and complete source of amusement ride accident reports and safety information".
http://www.rcdb.com - The Roller Coaster Database is a comprehensive, searchable database with information and statistics on over 1800 roller coasters throughout the world. As one visitor commented: "It's amazing the amount of information on this site".
http://www.flatrides.com/index.html - The Flat Joint Ride Index has a large collection of ride photos and information on amusement rides, most of which travel North America or are found in its amusement parks.
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/accidents/ - Theme Park Insider is building a worldwide online database of theme park accidents involving injury. Use this link to read about, or report, ride-related accidents at major U.S. theme parks.

Industry Trade Groups

http://www.iaapa.org - The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions is a trade group representing permanent amusement parks.
http://www.oaba.org - The Outdoor Amusement Business Association is a trade group representing traveling carnivals. The OABA offers an excellent public education video for elementary school-aged children.
http://www.aimsintl.org - The Amusement Industry Manufacturers and Suppliers, International is a trade group representing ride manufacturers. They put on a safety seminar each January.

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Child Safety Links

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc - National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 4770 Buford Highway NE, Mail Stop K63, Atlanta, GA 30341-3724, (770)488-1667.
http://www.safekids.org - National Safe Kids Campaign, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004-1707, (800)441-1888.
http://www.aap.org - American Academy of Pediatrics.

Consumer Advocacy

http://www.consumersunion.org - Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing unbiased product information to consumers.
http://www.consumerfed.org - The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, education and advocacy.
http://www.uspirg.org - U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) was created by the state PIRGs in 1983 to act as watchdog for the public interest in our nation's capital.
http://www.texaswatch.org - Texas Watch is a non-partisan consumer advocacy organization that works with Texas families to improve insurance, product safety and consumer protections.

Teaching Tools and Resources for Ride Safety Education

Saferparks Resources (Adobe PDF):
"Ride Safety Education for Children", created by Patty Sullivan of Eli Bridge Company to teach school-age children about amusement ride safety:

The Outdoor Amusement Business Association offers a video targeted to children ages 6-12. "Safe Fun at the Carnival" can be ordered through OABA's website.
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture, together with the Pennsylvania State Showmen's Association and the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs, has developed a "Fun Safety" program to encourage children to pay attention to safety at fairs and carnivals in that state.

Resources for Industry

THRILL :: Human Factors and Amusement Ride Safety - This program, created by Dr. Kathryn Woodcock of Ryerson University, applies human factors engineering (HF) principles to model and improve safety in the amusement ride domain.
Current Pediatric Growth Charts from the Centers for Disease Control.
"ISO/IEC Guide 50: Safety aspects - Guidelines for child safety" provides standardized guidelines for engineers who design products for use by children. Contact ISO (the International Organization for Standardization).
Keeping Children Safe on Amusement Rides - Saferparks PowerPoint presentation given to ride operators and inspectors at TSSA Safety Seminar in Ontario, Canada 2007.