COLUMBUS (WCMH) — NBC 4 continues to Inspect the Inspectors.

In January, five months after last July’s deadly Fireball ride tragedy,  the Ohio Advisory Board on Amusement Ride Safety established a safety sub-committee. The committee’s mission? To examine the inspection process, and make recommendations to prevent another catastrophic accident.

This morning, the committee held its first meeting.

NBC 4 Investigator Tom Sussi learned only one member of the sub-committee has taken the time to go through some very important documents: the Ohio Highway Patrol’s final report on last July’s Fireball accident. The narrative alone is 62 pages.

Sussi asked the sub-committee, “Who has read the final report completely?”

One member raised their hand. Monte Jasper, vice president of safety and engineering at Cedar Fair Entertainment. “What did you learn from that final report,” Sussi asked. “Corrosion is an issue,” said Jasper. “Internalized corrosion is a problem. Inspections are difficult if you seal up corroded areas and then force people to look at those things.”

Excessive corrosion. It’s what OHP investigators say caused the arm on the Fireball ride to snap, sending eight people airborne. 18-year-old Tyler Jarrell didn’t survive.

Sussi asked the sub-committee, “Why wasn’t it caught? Could it have been caught? Anybody have an opinion?”

One sub-committee member said, “I’d have to go with Bill. I’m not qualified to answer that.”

Bill Prowant is chairman of the ride safety sub-committee. “The corrosion – that’s all new. So we’re trying to figure out how we want to combat that, how we want to make the inspectors more knowledgeable of that.”

A good start might be reading OHP’s final report on the Fireball accident. Said Sussi, “Only one of the four of you have read that whole report. Why? Why not look into it, read the report and do your homework?”

Prowant said, “Well, I feel we have and we’ll do more of that. “We’re going to do our due diligence to make sure this doesn’t happen again, and that’s about the only way I can answer your question right now.”

The safety sub-committee said it’s working with ride operators and manufacturers, too, and will present its final recommendations to the Ohio Advisory Board on Amusement Ride Safety at its next meeting in May.