CAIRO - Although organised school trips were officially banned, in the context of bloody clashes that followed the January revolution, one of the rides at a funfair in the coastal city Alexandria that recently collapsed was carrying a large number of primary schoolchildren. The accident resulted in the death of one of the trip supervisors and eight schoolchildren being severely injured. It has provoked many questions about the safety of amusement rides at funfairs, their control and need for regular maintenance. It occurred a couple of weeks ago, coinciding with the start of the mid-year vacation when children often prefer to go to a funfair to let off steam. Officials at the Alexandrian funfair stressed that the regular maintenance to all rides is carried out daily, weekly and annually. They pointed out that there are supervision by governmental authorities, including the Occupational Safety Health Authority (OSHA), which has emphasised that there are mandatory training courses for all those who are working in this field. Rashad Amin, Manager at Sinbad FunFair, noted that it is one of the oldest such parks in Egypt, which have a good reputation. Regular maintenance on all different park attractions is carried out by a team of engineers and technicians with wide relevant experience. “The work at the amusement park is associated with people' lives so we are concerned with daily maintenance of games and rides, each of has a file detailing its maintenance record,” Amin says. He added that all games and rides are imported, as are their spare parts, which come from the country of origin. There is regular supervision of the park by concerned committees and the local council to check its maintenance and electricity and to ensure it meets the criteria for renewal of its annual licence. Board Chairman of Cairo Land Park, Osman Hassan told Al-Messat, local evening newspaper that park authorities are contracted annually with global companies with wide experience in the maintenance and safety of games and rides to get a licence for each amusement. Ashraf Ramadan, who is responsible for one amusement, noted that each game or ride bears written cautions on the appropriate age for its use and warnings to any vulnerable groups, such as people suffering diabetes, hypertension or cardiac disease, and also pregnant women. Omar Ramadan manager of OSHA, affiliated to the Ministry of Manpower, remarked that when a major accident, that is one involving death and/or serious injury, a fine is imposed, ranging between LE1,000 ($166.6) to LE10, 000 ($1,666.00) according to Article No. 256 of the Labour Law. The authority is authorised to close any game or ride that has been proved unfit for use until it has been fixed. It can also, according to the circumstances, even close down the whole amusement park. The Manager of Occupational Safety and Health Institute Tareq Sharaf-Eddin noted that training courses for those working in funfairs last four weeks and are given by specialists. The trainees receive a license to work, after learning how to deal with games and rides and their individual risks as well as the requisite type of maintenance.
