Kansas water park operates under limited state regulation

(AP) — The huge Kansas City, Kansas, waterslide on which a 10-year-old boy died was built in a state known for its light regulation of amusement park rides, and the company lobbied legislators to help ensure that it remained responsible for its own inspections.

Kansas mandates annual inspections of permanent amusement park rides but allows private inspectors to do the checks, rather than requiring a state inspection.

Before Kansas considered imposing inspection requirements for amusement rides in 2008, a Schlitterbahn lobbyist urged state lawmakers to allow large parks to handle their own inspections.

Permanent rides in Kansas must be "self-inspected" annually by a qualified inspector, with the state conducting random audits of the resulting inspection records.

David Mandt, a spokesman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, said the trade group estimates than 85 million people safely visit water parks each year, making an accident like the one in Kansas City "extremely rare."

Brownback told reporters that he and his youngest son rode the Verruckt slide when it opened in 2014, and riders were weighed both at the bottom of its tower and at the top because the concern was ensuring that each raft had the proper amount of weight — between 400 pounds and 550 pounds —ahead of its long drop.

According to the federal commission, New Jersey's program has as an engineering staff that reviews rides, as well as licensed field inspectors.

The panel's official report, drafted after an October 2007 hearing, said a Schlitterbahn lobbyist saw "no problem" with lawmakers considering a requirement but added, "the company would like a 'Disney exception'" for large parks, allowing "company inspection, in conjunction with the state."

The Department of Labor has 18 inspectors who do record audits for rides at more than 110 fair, festival, carnival and amusement park sites, but they also have other, larger workplace inspection duties.