Accident at the fair

Involuntary haircut is a case for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court in Vienna dealt with the popular amusement park ride.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com, Wolfgang Spitzbart)

Harmless entertainment for everyone - this is guaranteed by fun houses at fairgrounds, amusement parks etc. However, the operator must ensure the necessary safety. The Supreme Court is now deciding the framework conditions, based on a plaintiff who fell on a conveyor belt. 

They are almost an integral part of larger fairgrounds and amusement parks - fun houses. Distorting mirrors, air blown out of nozzles and more are designed to entertain young and old. And now also the Supreme Court, which had to deal with the ride and its safety.

Hair up to the scalp caught in conveyor belt
In November 2019, the plaintiff visited the Leopoldi market in Klosterneuburg (Lower Austria) - and the fun house set up there. "For reasons that can no longer be determined, she fell - she was not intoxicated - in the rear area of a conveyor belt, whereupon her openly worn hair got caught in the moving conveyor belt and was finally pulled in up to her scalp," the Supreme Court stated. 

18,360 euros in damages claimed
It took at least 30 seconds for the store employee to stop the conveyor belt - the woman not only suffered minor injuries to her hands, her hair also had to be cut off when she was freed. She subsequently claimed 18,360 euros in damages and compensation for pain and suffering from the operator of the fun house.

In view of the obvious risk of considerable damage to visitors, the defendant must be required to take appropriate measures to ensure that an emergency stop can be carried out in less than 30 seconds in the event of a fall on the conveyor belt.

Oberster Gerichtshof in seiner Entscheidung

Rightly so - decided the Supreme Court in Vienna in the last instance. Although "the concept of an amusement park is to unbalance the visitors by means of special floor conditions (movable wobbly floors, rolling barrel, conveyor belt) and thus provide a thrill", this is all against the background of appropriate safety. The response to falls must be faster than half a minute. If the employee cannot guarantee this through camera surveillance, another person must watch in front of the conveyor belt - or an automatic stop mechanism must be installed.

The operator of the fun house must therefore pay the plaintiff the sum demanded for culpable breach of the contractual duty to maintain safety and ensure that no visitor runs the risk of losing their hair in the future.