Legislative Affairs

IAAPA Guideline for Effective Amusement Ride Safety Regulation

IAAPA promotes and advocates for the adoption of effective amusement ride safety legislation at the most appropriate level of government. Safety is our industry’s number one priority and the oversight provided by effective regulation is an important addition to steps taken by manufacturers and owner/operators to ensure that amusement rides are one of the safest forms of recreation.

Throughout the world, IAAPA staff and members work with regulatory authorities, inspection bodies, and standard development organizations to develop safety standards and regulations. These standards and regulations should be developed in consultation with industry stakeholders.

Elements of Effective Regulation:

• Recognize Amusement Ride Safety Standards
  Regulation should incorporate existing ride safety standards established by one of the following bodies:
  • ASTM International Committee F24 on Amusement Rides and Devices

COMMENTS: ASTM has been writing amusement ride safety standards for more than three decades with input of thousands of hours from industry experts. They are robust covering design, manufacture, operations, maintenance, and inspection of a wide range of amusement rides and devices. They are well recognized and adopted in many states throughout the country.

• Empower an Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ)
  • The AHJ should be empowered to provide the permit to Owner/Operators to operate rides that comply with the regulation.
  • Provide sufficient appropriation of education and funding to the AHJ to effectively enforce amusement ride safety regulations.

COMMENTS: The AHJ should have access to qualified inspectors and educational programs. There is a global network of independent ride inspectors with extensive experience in enforcing harmonized industry standards and inspector training programs are available for self-inspecting AHJ`s.

• Require Periodic Inspections

In addition to routine inspection and maintenance activities by trained and qualified Owner/Operator personnel, every

amusement ride and device should be inspected periodically by a qualified inspector.

• Require Incident Reporting

The Owner/Operator should report any amusement ride incident to the AHJ where a person was seriously injured and in need of an overnight stay at a medical facility.

• Require Post-Incident Investigation

Investigations of reported incidents should be conducted by a qualified investigator in a timely manner.

COMMENTS: Notification of such incidents allows for review and potential identification of root causes to prevent future incidents.

• Rider Responsibility

Predictive scheduling, otherwise known as restrictive scheduling, is a practice that generally encompasses: posting schedules weeks in advance before weather conditions or guest estimations can be made, penalizing employers for cancelling or prolonging work shifts, and hindering hiring practices for new employees who desire part-time work.

Background

The attractions industry relies heavily on part-time employees. On average, 64% of the attractions industry consists of part-time employees and contributes 1.3 million jobs nationally. Unforeseeable events such as weather and guest turn-out impact the overall success of the $219 billion-dollar attractions industry and often dictate the necessary workforce needed during a given work cycle. Flexible scheduling makes it possible for employers to meet the demands of their customers without wasting company resources and allows employees the opportunity to work more or less hours given their personal needs.

Issue

As many as eight states have already voted some variation of predicative scheduling into law. Congress is currently reviewing the Schedules that Work Act which would disproportionately disadvantage the attractions industry, which relies heavily on part-time workforces and flexible scheduling practices.

Outside factors such as weather and guest turn-out affect the day-to-day workings of the industry and make it difficult to estimate the specific needs on a given day weeks in advance. Additionally, scheduling flexibility is often why employees seek part-time work and legislation penalizing schedule changes threatens this flexibility and has the potential to stifle employment opportunities thus making these policies burdensome for both employees and employers.

Position

Scheduling practices should allow for the accommodation of customers on a need-by-need basis, limit waste, and give employees control over the flexibility of their hours with opportunities to succeed.

IAAPA supports policies that give both employers and employees flexibility in the workplace and respect employers’ understanding of their facilities, customers and employees’ needs in the ever-changing climate of the attractions industry.

IAAPA opposes policies that force our members to use scheduling tactics that are wasteful and limiting to employees’ opportunities.

Protecting the airspace over fixed-site attractions has been a major focus of IAAPA’s federal advocacy in recent years. 

After years of engagement with Congress and federal agencies, an important milestone was reached when the Safer Skies Act was signed into law. The legislation expands counter-drone authority for state and local law enforcement, enabling them to work with fixed-site attractions to detect and mitigate unauthorized drone activity that could threaten guest safety or disrupt operations. The law also establishes training, oversight, and clear guardrails for the use of mitigation tools. 

While this was an important step forward, additional work remains. 

The next phase involves the FAA’s rulemaking under Section 2209, which will determine how critical infrastructure facilities—such as fixed-site amusement parks—can petition the FAA to restrict unauthorized drone activity in their airspace. 

IAAPA and engaged members recently met with the FAA to advocate for a framework that allows attractions to effectively protect their airspace. We encouraged the agency to adopt objective, risk-based criteria, rather than relying solely on attendance thresholds. Factors such as the permanence of operations, public access, outdoor crowd density, operational hazards, and clearly defined property boundaries should all be considered when evaluating requests. 

IAAPA also recommended that the FAA allow permanent airspace designations for qualified attractions, establish reasonable safety buffers around protected areas, and include adjacent parcels—such as resort properties. In addition, we emphasized the importance of clearly confirming that attractions can continue to operate their own authorized drones. 

Many attractions rely on drones for legitimate operational purposes, including drone shows and entertainment, infrastructure inspections, pyrotechnic coordination, media and promotional activities, and safety and security operations. 

IAAPA is continuing to engage with the FAA as this process moves forward. We are awaiting the release of the agency’s proposed rule and will submit formal comments once it is published. In the meantime, IAAPA is working with members to develop a white paper that will support the rulemaking process and help ensure the final framework allows fixed-site attractions to protect their airspace while continuing to use drones safely and responsibly.

The school calendar is the period of time, usually around 180 days or the equivalent number of minutes, in which students in grades K-12 are required to attend school. School administrators create a calendar in which these parameters are met, including the days in which the school year begins and ends.

Background

The traditional school year typically begins in September, following Labor Day. While school start dates and laws vary around the country, in recent years, school administrators have begun to challenge the traditional school year by beginning school in August and in some cases, as early as July. This trend can threaten a state’s tourism industry and economic revenue while limiting employment opportunities for students and teachers. And starting the school year earlier provides no demonstrable improvement to a student’s education.

Issue

School calendars beginning prior to Labor Day fail to account for the personal needs of students and teachers and often lead to student and teacher ‘burn-out’, leaving children less likely to retain information during instructional hours and teachers unable to pursue additional training, advanced degrees or hold a second job to make ends meet.

In some parts of the country, earlier school start dates increase expenditures on air conditioning and additional bus transportation during the hottest months of the year rather than using those funds for teacher salaries, supplies or programs that enhance student learning.

Additionally, earlier school start dates make it difficult for students and teachers seeking summer employment to find work as it conflicts with their school calendars. Post-Labor Day school start dates for K-12 schools create employment opportunities and stimulate the state economy, all the while giving students the ability to earn money, gain real world experience, intern, or participate in a number of other activities essential for character development.

Position

IAAPA supports policy that sets a post Labor Day school start for all K-12 schools that receive state funding while giving school administrators the flexibility to schedule instructional time in minutes rather than in days.

IAAPA also supports study bills that look at the impact that a school start date has on the tourism industry and in return, state and local tax generation, school funding, non-instructional costs for schools and lost student and facility wages. IAAPA also encourages the states to study the impact on workforce development, dual credit course study and technical programs of study requiring full summers for internship and externship opportunities.