But that's the goal each summer for Tony Guadagno, manager of the San Diego County Fair's ride and carnival sections known as the Midway. Last year, the rides generated $5,670,000 in gross sales.

“When you move a million or more people, you're going to have incidents,” Guadagno said while making his rounds on a recent morning at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Last summer, 1.5 million passengers rode the fair's amusement rides and 49 were given minor first aid.

Since 1999, only one ride accident at the fair was serious enough to require the victim to be taken to a hospital emergency room, according to state records.

Most incidents are minor and the result of human error rather than mechanical failure, Guadagno said.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune Sam Sarokin, (left) 13, and Thomas Richards, 12, of San Diego rode the Sky Flyer, a new ride at the San Diego County Fair. Last summer, 1.5 million passengers rode amusement rides on the Midway; 49 riders received minor first aid.

The most common: cell phones and eyeglasses that fall loose and become projectiles while someone is being jostled on a ride.

“Ride safety is really a shared venture with the patron,” he said, meaning that people can reduce their risk by obeying the rules and using common sense.

Advisories are posted at each ride to deter people who have heart conditions, high blood pressure or are pregnant. Guadagno encourages parents to watch a ride while it's operating and judge whether it's appropriate for their child.

Incident reports released by the 22nd District Agricultural Association, the agency that operates the fairgrounds, show that 40 people suffered minor injuries from rides in 2006.

The number was 50 in 2004; 71 in 2003. All of the incidents required only minor first aid for cuts, scrapes, nausea and fainting.

The most serious accident in recent history occurred June 19, 2004, when a wheel broke on a vehicle on the Hydroslide. The vehicle came to an abrupt stop, causing two riders to smack their heads against each other. A mother and daughter were taken to the hospital for possible whiplash or neck injuries, where they were treated and released. The father and another daughter were taken to the fair's first-aid center.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune

Fairgrounds safety inspectors and officials with the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration examined the ride and cleared it to restart the next day.

The last fatality on the Midway was in 1985. A ride maintenance worker was killed when he was hit by five cars while standing on a second tier of the High Miler roller coaster track.

Statewide, there were 40 serious injuries and three deaths involving patrons on rides at county fairs and carnivals from 2000 to 2006, according to the safeparks.org Web site.

Nationwide, 2,843 people were sent to hospital emergency rooms after accidents on rides at fairs and carnivals in 2006, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

In California, the most recent serious accident occurred in May at the Calaveras County Fair, when a ride called the Yo-Yo malfunctioned and 24 people were injured.

The ride had been inspected by Cal-OSHA four days earlier. The Yo-Yo is not among the 82 amusement rides at this year's San Diego County Fair.

Cal-OSHA is responsible for annual inspections as well as spot checks of the estimated 150 businesses that operate mobile carnival rides in the state. State officials spent two days last week inspecting rides at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

In California, mobile amusement rides must be inspected and operated in test mode at the beginning of each day by its chief operator or foreman. In Del Mar, Guadagno and five assistants check those inspection records daily.

The inspections can take up to an hour. For instance, the foreman of the 65-foot-tall High Miler straps on a safety harness and walks the entire length of roller coaster tracks. He taps each connection with a hammer and checks to see that the rails are properly aligned.

“I used to be that guy,” Guadagno said, watching the foreman. Guadagno said his family once owned the same roller coaster. Like most carnival ride operators, he grew up in the business.

Bruce Pearlman owns three rides at this year's fair, including one called Wind Surf. It looks like a row of theater seats attached to an arm that swirls riders upside down and sideways.

Pearlman implores patrons to remove their flip-flops and empty their pockets before stepping aboard. Some are silly enough to try to smuggle cups of soda.

“They look and me and say: “Hey, my cup has a lid so I should be OK,” he said. "I just shake my head.”

Staff writer Mike Burge contributed to this report.

Terry Rodgers: (619) 542-4566; terry.rodgers@uniontrib.com