“They’ll figure out a way to hurt themselves.”

So says the owner of a privately-held water park in Illinois:

How do you test your rides to ensure they’re safe?

We ride ’em ourselves. When we are ready to fire up, my team and I will get in our fiberglass rides and feel every square inch to make sure there’s nothing sharp, abrasive or that would snag a guest or a bathing suit. We wax the daylights out of our slides. Maintenance and safety are number one around here.

Do you have lawsuits filed against you?

We have petty lawsuits every year. People are very creative. No matter what we come up with, they’ll figure out a way to hurt themselves.

You must carry a lot of insurance.

As the industry began to learn what privately owned water parks were all about, we began to see decreases in the annual premiums. The experience showed that a well-trained staff at a privately owned water park is approximately 100 times safer than a conventional swimming pool. Insurance is easy to get now. There’s a lot of competition out there.

–BC