Millions of British families wait in line at fairgrounds around the nation each summer, give over a few pounds, and have faith that the ride that will send them hurtling through the air has been inspected, approved, and cleared. The majority of people seldom give it a second thought. Usually, a sticker or certificate in an office suffices. The issue, as shown by a June 2024 BBC Panorama investigation, is that there are significant flaws in the system that underpins that confidence.
The framework used in the UK to inspect and certify fairground rides and entertainment equipment is called the entertainment Device Inspection Procedures Scheme, or ADIPS. It was made since there was practically nothing previously. With no central monitoring and no practical method to determine whether any of the paperwork was meaningful, various organizations were conducting inspections to varying standards and producing their own documentation. To fill that gap, the leading trade associations in the sector collaborated with the Health and Safety Executive to create ADIPS. It makes sense as a structure on paper. Independent inspections of rides are conducted by Registered Inspection Bodies, or RIBs. When they are satisfied, they issue a Declaration of Operational Compliance, or DOC, informing the public and the legal system that a gadget has been approved for safe operation.
The actual inspection procedure is multi-layered. A new vehicle first undergoes a design review, during which experts verify that calculations and drawings adhere to pertinent requirements. The next step is a conformity evaluation, which involves making physical inspections to make sure the final product truly complies with the authorized design. In-service yearly inspections then take over, concentrating on structural integrity and safety-critical components. Although the analogy is limited, it is basically comparable to a vehicle’s MOT. The DVSA conducts routine audits of MOT centers. Panorama discovered that the organizations doing these ride inspections have significantly less monitoring. Once inspectors are on the job site, UKAS, the accrediting authority, does not regularly evaluate their performance.
When you consider what has been happening in practice, that gap is really important. Due to inspection failures, one inspector, David Geary of DMG Technical Limited, was placed on the ADIPS-approved list until March 2025 after receiving two criminal convictions, numerous HSE warnings, and a suspended prison sentence. Among the incidents connected to his job were an 11-year-old girl who was thrown from a ride at a funfair in Hull in April 2023, resulting in a fractured skull and brain damage, and Jade Harrison, who was flung from the Airmaxx 360 at Hull Fair in 2019 and sustained long-term injuries. In 2014, the identical Airmaxx 360 model was involved in a deadly collision in Australia. Nevertheless, it passed a UK design evaluation.
Following Geary’s suspension, the HSE received a list of 87 ride designs that ADIPS had examined. It’s unclear, at least in public, if they will all be reexamined. When HSE inspectors visited Woodlands Family Theme Park in Devon in June 2025, they stopped nine attractions, including a Sea Dragon, a Trauma Tower, and a Polar Pilots, after discovering that their Declarations of Operational Compliance were unlawful because they had been given by Geary’s now-suspended company. The incident demonstrated how reliant the entire system is on the honesty of individual inspectors, even though the park was able to rectify the problem somewhat quickly. The certificates beneath them also crumble when one fails.
For its part, ADIPS has highlighted the industry’s overall safety record, which is actually strong by many measures—far fewer serious incidents occur than the number of rides and users may suggest. That is a valid point, and it should not be disregarded. For the most part, the system does function. However, a safety structure that allows an inspector to accrue warnings, convictions, and disciplinary findings over the course of more than ten years while still certifying rides that people climb on in good faith is unsettling. It was obvious that the oversight was not keeping up with the risk.
There’s a chance that the scrutiny that followed the Panorama broadcast will improve the situation. Following 2024, both the HSE and ADIPS indicated that they were examining the monitoring of inspection bodies. It is yet unclear if this leads to structural change—something more akin to the DVSA model, with regular on-site audits of inspectors themselves—or if it stays mostly at the level of internal reflection. As it develops, there’s a feeling that the pressure is genuine this time around, in part because of the families that disclosed what happened to their kids.
ADIPS accreditation is still the best indication that a ride has undergone an approved procedure for anyone visiting a UK fairground this summer. There is still significance to the DOC sticker. However, its meaning varies depending on who signed it, and this is the main issue that the scheme’s supporters are now being asked to take seriously.
