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Steinke v. South Carolina Department of Labor9/7/1999
e operators had used the winch and cable system.
Major defects in the system included the use of a single cable without additional safety cables, incorrectly sized pulleys, a powerful winch capable of snapping the single cable with relative ease, the lack of controls or an emergency stop button inside the cage, and the lack of a device to shut off the winch automatically when the cage reached the top of the arch.
Respondents alleged that Department failed to revoke or suspend the license Department had issued, or adequately inspect or investigate the crawlevator, after receiving troubling reports. Those reports were (1) a July 13, 1993, memorandum written by James Cates, a Department field supervisor; (2) an August 5, 1993, telephone conversation between Henry J. McGinnis, president of the Texas manufacturer of the arch and crawlevator, and Floyd Padgett, director of Department's Office of Elevators and Amusement Rides; and (3) an August 5, 1993, facsimile from McGinnis to Padgett.
Cates wrote the July 13, 1993, memo after Department received a report of a malfunction of an electric winch at the ride. Emergency personnel were called to the scene. No one was injured, but a jumper was suspended upside down until repairs were made. Cates filed the memo away after discussing the matter with Padgett. No Department official contacted the Beach Bungee owners or visited the site because, Padgett testified, no one had gotten hurt.
Arch maker McGinnis testified he telephoned Padgett on August 5, 1993. McGinnis told Padgett he had received a report that Beach Bungee may have modified the crawlevator by installing a winch and cable to lift the cage. That was not the system he had designed and McGinnis wanted to ensure any changes had been inspected and approved by a licensed engineer. Beach Bungee's owners and employees had refused to accept McGinnis's calls, apparently due to the crawlevator's mechanical problems and the fact McGinnis's company had not been fully paid. McGinnis, at Padgett's request, outlined his concerns in a fax to Padgett the same day. He wrote that the ride recently had "incurred some type of failure" and asked Department to investigate the matter. Padgett assured him that Department would look into it, McGinnis testified.
Padgett denied having a conversation on August 5 with McGinnis. He testified he spoke with McGinnis on August 6 after receiving McGinnis's fax, but denied McGinnis told him about the winch and cable system. Padgett did not perceive the situation as an emergency and saw no reason to work overtime to follow up on the matter. Cates, however, testified the fax appeared to be more serious than other routine government and manufacturer notices faxed to the Columbia office during 1993.
Jerry Butler, a chief inspector with Department, instructed local inspector Mitchell Ward to go by the Beach Bungee site, but "not to make a special trip." Ward was not aware of the July 13 memo or the August 5 fax. Ward testified he drove by the site at about 6:30 p.m. August 6, 1993, on his way to a bowling date. He was traveling about 20 to 30 mph and did not stop at the site. Ward saw the cage sitting on the ground, but did not see the crawlevator. He did not believe the ride was operating. He passed by the ride again at about 11 p.m. on his way home, but did not stop. In fact, operators used the winch and cable system to carry forty-seven jumpers August 6, including twenty jumpers between 6: 10 and 8:30 p.m.
The next afternoon, on a Saturday trip to the mall, Ward pulled his car to the far side of the six-lane highway and observed the ride for about ten minutes. Ward saw the cage on the ground and again noticed the craw
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