Unsafe haunt, what to do?

[xxxdirk]

There has been a lot of talk on this board and others regarding unsafe haunts. My question is what should a haunt owner do if they ever come across a haunt that we can clearly see is unsafe. I mean, every year I try to do my best to make my haunt safe. I fire proof the walls and props, try to make sure there are no tripping hazards, having my haunt located in a bldg with smoke detectors/ sprinklers, have ez exits. Yet every year I hear about haunts that build their walls out of plastic or are death traps waiting to happen. Fortunately, I have not ever seen a place like that around me, but what should you do if you do hear about these places? Write a letter to the paper, raise hell with the fire dept, what? I mean you do any of these things and you will come across as a person wanting to close them down because you want their business or at the least put a huge target on your back. Or do you just sit back, bite the bullet, spend thousands of dollars that they did not have to because you want your haunt and customers to be safe and pray to God nothing happens at their place. Of course, you could put on your web site all the safety things you do, but does the average teen give a darn about those things?
Any thoughts on this? IAHA, anyone? Again, I have no haunt in mind as I write this, I just want to know what you all think.....

Respectfully,

Ron

[Duke of Darkness]

It is a very delicate situation. The LAST thing I would want to do is write to the paper. That does little but produce bad publicity for the industry. I think that I would start with trying to talk to the owner and do a little education. Very hard to do this without coming off badly, but I would give it a try. If you seriously feel like they are putting people at risk, your best option may be to go to the fire marshall. Could still lead to bad publicity, but not nearly as bad as a serious injury, or God forbid, a death.

Dave

[wipp]

yes and i feel that you could also be raising your own standards in the long run by bringing that to the atten of the firemarshal.what if he says wait a min here,your dungon walls are made of styrofoam,your closed untill those are gone.or that maze needs to go,it will confuze people in an emergency situation.

[ClusterOne]

I have written anonymous letters to the owners before, and I have also sent in friends of mine to haunts that have obvious issues to play dumb and make a friendly complaint to someone. (dude, I totally twisted my ankle on that step in the dark! lucky Im a nice guy..I could sue your a$$, (laughing the whole time)). Maybe scare them enough to make some changes.

If another haunt gets shut down in a public way, it will hurt your business, not help it. My opinion. A sinking tide, sinks all ships....or something like that!

=Joel=

[Mr. Haunt]

Safety

So what are we all saying, plastic walls are not safe?, I want to do plastic walls, but it would be an out door haunt. I have never seen a haunt like this, nor have I ever been to a haunt that was not safe. I have seen people hurt after they have been through a haunt and wonder how it could have happend.