State: No agency regulates hayrides in Michigan

“Commercial Services says they’re not aware of any state agency that regulates hayrides,” Donlan said.

The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which regulates workplace safety, confirmed Monday that it is investigating the accident. But that agency has no jurisdiction over consumer safety issues, officials said.

Ron Melancon, a longtime advocate for safety standards and regulations for trailers of all kinds, said hayrides are not regulated anywhere mainly because they’re generally held on private property. Melancon said hayride trailers often lack railings to prevent falls and have other safety concerns, including no load restrictions.

Melancon, who lives in Virginia, noted that 6 people were injured on Sunday in a hayride accident in New Hampshire.

Saturday’s accident is at least the second hayride accident to seriously injure someone in the past two years in southeast Michigan. Ypsilanti teenager Jordan Hogg was seriously injured in a church hayride accident in Livingston County in October 2009 when he fell off a utility trailer and it ran over him. Hogg, who is now a junior at Milan High School, suffered a crushed airway and was so seriously injured doctors weren’t sure he would live.

He still suffers effects from the accident, though, including short-term memory loss and problems with attention span. The left side of his face also doesn't move as it should, his mother, Amy Hogg, said.

Amy Hogg said many people don't understand the risks from hayrides. "I've tried so hard to educate people on makeshift hayrides and how dangerous they are," she said. "They don’t realize that this isn’t a freak accident. This is happening a lot."

She said she made up her own slogan to try to educate people."If it wasn’t built with sides it wasn’t meant for rides," she said.

Jenny’s Farm Market owner Burton Hoey told AnnArbor.com Sunday that the worker who was injured, a 23-year-old woman, was leading the hayride and holding tight to the reins when one of the horses tripped and lunged forward, pulling her off the wagon.

Firefighters reportedly arrived shortly before 2 p.m., and found her lying in a field. Dexter Fire Lt. Michael Grissom said Sunday that the woman "didn't have the feeling she should have had in her lower extremities" on Saturday.

She was conscious and alert and was flown by a Survival Flight helicopter to the University of Michigan Hospital, where she was undergoing treatment.

An update on her condition was not available Monday. Her name has not been released.

The farm market, located at the intersection of Dexter-Pinckney and Island Lake roads, is a popular local attraction.