The fast and flashy rides of traveling carnivals are supposed to be good clean family fun at county fairs and church parking lots across the country. But when INSIDE EDITION sent a producer armed with a hidden camera to work at several traveling carnivals, we found an alarming amount of safety issues with some of the operators of those rides.

Just hours after being hired at a carnival operated by All County Amusements on Long Island, INSIDE EDITION's undercover producer was offered marijuana by a man whose job it was to operate the popular and terrifying ride called "The Zipper."

Our producer also encountered two other All County Amusement employees who snuck off behind a trailer to get high before the carnival began. Moments later they both returned to their assigned rides where each was the only operator responsible for the safety of dozens of children.

“Peoples lives are at stake here,” said safety expert and former OSHA Administrator John Henshaw.

INSIDE EDITION shared our undercover video with Henshaw, who was shocked.

"That really alarms me that we have people out there that are impaired in that way, operating heavy equipment and my kids lives are at stake,” Henshaw continued.

When INSIDE EDITION tried to question Bob Grauer, one of the owners of All County Amusements, he kicked our cameras out of the midway, saying, "I'm really not talking to you."

And INSIDE EDITION found other problems at All County Amusements.

When something went wrong on a ride called the paratrooper with children still on it, a carnival employee panicked. On the hidden camera footage, the young woman is heard yelling, "Go now and get him ASAP! Run! Run!"

Clueless as how to handle the problem, the frantic operator screamed at INSIDE EDITION's undercover producer to run and get help. A rider was stranded high in the air until the problem was fixed.

A government report estimates that more than 3,000 people a year are injured on traveling carnival rides. Many of those accidents occur because some of the operators have no idea what they are doing.

When INSIDE EDITION's producer took a job with a company called Amusements of America at a county fair in upstate New York, he was immediately assigned to work with a ride operated named Bob on the bone-jarring bumper cars.

"We're all a bunch of drunks and potheads," Bob was caught saying on the hidden camera footage while training our producer. When the carnival closed for the night, Bob invited our producer back to his trailer where cameras caught him smoking marijuana.

The next morning while performing important safety checks on the bumper cars, Bob said he was already stoned. "I'm already high," he stated.

Just minutes later, while dozens of children raucously smashed into each other, Bob repeatedly dozed off at the controls.

Amazingly, at one point during the day, Bob abandoned his post at the bumper cars to pick up marijuana at a funnel cake stand. He then came back and offered to sell the drugs to INSIDE EDITION's undercover producer.

After examining the bag, our producer immediately gave it back.
 
INSIDE EDITION caught up with one of the owners of Amusements of America, Morris Vivano.

When asked if he had a drug problem with his ride operators, Vivano replied, "Not that I know of." He was surprised when we showed him our undercover video. 

Vivano went on to say that "From time to time people come along [with drug problems]. We tried to vet them out as best we can and when we find there's a problem we let them go...like Bob won't be working here tomorrow."

At both carnivals, INSIDE EDITION's producer was hired off the street by managers without ever showing an ID or filling out an application. Vivano's company didn't even ask his last name.

Vivano says, "Background checks are difficult. I have to be honest with you...It's not an easy thing to keep up with. We do our best."

However, it is critical that these traveling carnivals don't just hire anyone who walks in off the streets without so much as a background check.

Parents should be wary. In March 2008, a ride operator at a fair in Indiana pled guilty to felony child molestation charges after assaulting three little girls he was supposed to be supervising. 

To prevent sex offenders and drug users from operating carnival rides kids love, safety expert John Henshaw says traveling carnivals must enforce thorough background checks and require mandatory drug testing.

Robert Johnson, the President of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association, which represents many traveling carnivals around the country, said that hundreds of millions of Americans safely enjoy portable amusement rides every year. 

“The OABA does not condone the use of illegal drugs and supports substance abuse policies and criminal background investigations for seasonal labor,” added Johnson.

For OABA’s full statement to INSIDE EDITION, click the link "Download a PDF" featured at the top of this window.