Countywide : State Closes Fair’s Bungee-Jumping Act for Lack of Permit

Inspectors for the California Safety and Health Administration have shut down a “bungee-jumping” exhibition at the Ventura County Fair because performers involved in the act did not have a permit to operate.

The exhibition was stopped Monday after an order was issued to Topa Topa Outdoor Adventures, a Fillmore firm that had been performing bungee jumps from a construction crane brought into the fairgrounds.

Two weeks ago Cal-OSHA began enforcing a new regulation that requires a permit if the jumps are from portable equipment, said Rick Rice, a spokesman for Cal-OSHA.

Since the new regulation became effective, the agency has shut down a bungee exhibition in the San Francisco Bay Area and stopped another one from opening at the Sacramento State Fair, he said.

The Topa Topa jumpers had been performing five shows a day during the Ventura County Fair.

The jumpers were carried in a steel cage to the top of the crane. From there, they would leap with one end of a 50-foot-long expandable cord attached to their bodies and the other end to the crane.

Rice said an unidentified person complained to the agency about the exhibition.

In addition to the absence of a permit, inspectors found other problems.

The cage lacked certain safety equipment, he said, and the harness was not approved for use on a crane.

Also, the crane was due for recertification in two weeks, and inspectorsfelt that it should not be used until then.

Topa Topa’s owner, John Christian, said he is bringing in a properly fitted crane and may be back in operation today.