Market regulators to inspect roller coasters nationwide

Chinese market regulators will conduct a nationwide inspection and overhaul on roller coasters to eliminate potential safety hazards, the State Administration for Market Regulation said Monday.

The administration said the overhaul was ordered in the wake of a roller coaster accident that occurred in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Oct 27, which injured 28 people.

The administration ordered professionals from roller coaster manufacturers to reevaluate the safety mechanisms for roller coasters currently in operation and check the performance and wear for catapult, lifting, power, brake, anti-reversal and wheel systems to make relevant amendments. Evaluation reports on catapult-style roller coasters — the ones involved in the Shenzhen accident — should be sent to operators by Jan 15, while reports of other types of the amusement facility should be sent by June 15.

The administration stressed that operators or facilities need to detail routine inspections in everyday logs. To avoid accidents like the one occurred in Shenzhen, it also required that for roller coasters that simultaneously use two or more sets of cars, the set in front may only depart after passengers have all disembarked from the set that have just returned.

The administration ordered quality inspection agencies to check the safety and maintenance status of roller coasters regularly and report hazards to market inspection units in a timely manner.

The national administration also ordered provincial-level inspectors to summarize their work in the overhaul by Jan 31.