Though how Caleb Schwab was exactly decapitated on Verrückt may never become public knowledge, the Kansas City Star reports not only that the waterslide hadn't been inspected since its opening in 2014 but also that the state has very few federal regulations on amusement park safety.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback told the paper he "would assume and hope that the Legislature would spend significant time looking at the issue" in the aftermath of Caleb's death. Right now, the state Department of Labor requires amusement parks hire their own professional inspectors who file their findings not with the state, but with the amusement park owners. No further action is required from them after that.
Other states, like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, have more regulations on their amusement parks. In those states, the inspectors hired are state-trained ones. It is this disparity between the states that may be allowing more horrific incidents like Caleb's to happen.
"Fifty states in the United States of America and no two inspect rides the same way. That's wrong," amusement park safety consultant Ken Martin told the Associated Press: "We're not close to being in the same book, state to state. We're not even on the same page of the hymnal. We certainly aren't singing in key." The AP also reports there have been 29 amusement park ride or water slide deaths since 2010.
The fact that Caleb's father, Scott Schwab, is a Kansas state lawmaker may expedite how soon if and when changes to these regulations are made.
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Tess Koman covers breaking (food) news, opinion pieces, and features on larger happenings in the food world. She oversees editorial content on Delish. Her work has appeared on Cosmopolitan.com, Elle.com, and Esquire.com.
