The Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain has said the BBC’s “gotcha” journalism into fairground safety is sensationalist fluff peddling off the back of unverifiable sources.
The Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain has pushed back against a new BBC Panorama documentary which took aim at the health and safety standards of rides operating in UK fairgrounds.
Drawing upon the most alarming statistics the show’s producers were able to identify, the program highlighted a number of cases in which fairground visitors were injured, and cited anonymous “industry-insider” sources who, they claim, alleged that the current Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme (or Adips) of safety standards was “not fit for purpose.”
Indeed, referring to an instance where one specific Adips inspector was seen to have overlooked a number of defects which subsequently led to injuries, inspector and engineer Alex Nicholls told Panorama: “We can’t allow this to happen again.”
“The names will change,” he said. “But if the game is the same then we’re just going to have the same problems over and over.”
But for its part, the Showmen’s Guild has issued a robust refutation of many of the allegations made by the BBC: an official statement posted to the trade association’s Facebook page called the programme “biased and factually incorrect,” and said that the show had “distorted and misrepresented the true safety picture.”
“The Showmen’s Guild finds it ironic that the BBC, an organisation that has consistently failed to address risk, is criticising the ADIPS safety scheme which frankly is the envy of the world,” it added.
Meanwhile, spokesman Frankie Warwick went into further detail as to why the guild had taken such issue with the “misleading” assertions of the documentary.
“Most concerning is the programme’s reliance on individuals who are not real or verifiable, to make serious and damaging accusations without proper evidence or accountability,” he posted on Facebook. “This approach undermines journalistic integrity and causes unnecessary alarm to the public.”
“As the governing body for travelling showmen, we want to reassure the public that safety remains our top priority,” he added.
All rides and attractions operated by SGGB members are tested and certified under Adips, which remains the nationally recognised inspection framework supported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). As per these guidelines, every ride undergoes annual safety inspections by independent and qualified inspection bodies, and has to be issued a valid Declaration of Operational Compliance (DOC).
“We encourage the public and media to focus on facts and regulated safety procedures, rather than unverified claims,” said Warwick. “The reputation and livelihoods of hardworking showmen, many of whom come from generations of family-run businesses, should not be harmed by sensationalist reporting that lacks credible sourcing.”
