In California we have several kinds of trained "carousel spotters",
not only for the safety of the riders but for the operators and the
carousel as well.

The State of California Department of Industrial Relations -- Division
of Occupational Safety and Health, Amusement and Tramway Unit -- visits
our carousel once a year and does two inspections.  The first is the
RAQSI where they inspect all of our paperwork to see that we are keeping
an opening inspection log, another one on training and retraining our
operators on various procedures and safety and also keeping a maintenance
log, all paperwork signed by the employee, trainer and mechanic and
partner involved.  They are very meticulous and make changes periodically
on how and what we are keeping in these logs.

The second inspection is of the carousel itself.  The inspector spends
three to five hours looking at everything from the inspection date on
our fire extinguisher to every cotter pin and bearing and the safety of
the fence surrounding the carousel.  He will ask us to fix small things
on the spot or send us a report detailing all the corrections needed.

On our recent visit, the inspector saw a bearing that he felt was worn
and we were told that we were not to operate until it was replaced,
which is difficult to do on a 90-year-old machine.  Lucky for us we
have in our area one of the premier carousel mechanics, Lonnie Lloyd,
who was the head mechanic for Bud Hurlbut of Knotts Berry Farm and
Castle Park carousels.

He searched the country and when he found one, got it sent across
country and installed it.  We had to beg for a special, quick
inspection because we had a little girl's birthday party in three days
that had been booked months before.  The Safety Inspector came out,
passed the new gear and the birthday party was a success.

Not forgetting the safety of our riders, the inspectors make periodic
unannounced inspections, sit on a bench, eat a hot dog, watch the ride
and give us a report on the competence of our operators.

We have a detailed training manual that we created and every employee
must read it before we even take them on the carousel.  Their first job
is to make sure everyone is wearing their safety belt.  Then when the
ride starts, they walk around and learn to just watch.  That is the
most important job when working on a carousel.

Then it takes a while of ticket taking and watching before we begin
to teach them how to get on and off a machine going around at 14
miles per hour.  Then we teach them to operate the controls.  Unlike
some carousels, we still actually "drive" ours with a clutch, brake and
22-foot leather drive belt.

I'm very proud of my 32 years of safe, happy operation.  If you operate
or own a carousel, or are just interested, we would be delighted to
share our training manual and safety log forms or wild stories with
you.  D'ya want to hear about Magnaflux testing?!

Rosemary West - Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round
Los Angeles
rosemerrygoround@yahoo.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

 [ See the merry-go-round and hear the refurbished Stinson Model 87
 [ band organ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYfLD3AkAm0  -- Robbie