Standards are the foundation of safety management and a mandatory link between real world and legislation. Find here introductios to those dealing with safety of playgrounds and recreational sports areas.
While the idea of having a standard that determines what is safe and what is not is appealing, the reality is different. Standards are problematic in some ways:
- Standards are not mandatory to be followed.
- Compliant product may be unsafe.
- Non-compliant product may be safe.
- All features in equipment are not covered.
- They do not deal with operation and service.
- They rarely refer to risk assessment.
- Safety rarely is a matter of millimetres.
One source of these problems is the nature of all standards: They seek to minimise the number of product variants. On recreational areas, however, it is beneficial to have a maximal number fo product variants.
Regardless to all these challenges, the standards do serve their purpose and also Safe to Play uses them in all operations. When coupled with risk assessment, they are very useful!
Read to-the-point answers to frequently asked safety questions
What standards are covered in Safe to Play Encyclopedia?
All of Safe to Play’s services and products deal with the same set of standards. But there is more! Only roughly about third of Safe to Play Encyclopedia concerns the standards, abour thirs concerns risk assessment and the rest is experience based knowledge from the other four areas of knowledge mentioned in prISO 24665: Child development, Layout design, Technical production and Responsibilities.
EN 1176-1 Playground equipment and surfacing – Part 1: General safety requirements and test methods
EN 1176-2 Playground equipment and surfacing – Part 2: Additional specific safety requirements and test methods for swings
EN 1176-3 Playground equipment and surfacing – Part 3: Additional specific safety requirements and test methods for slides
EN 1176-4 Playground equipment and surfacing – Part 4: Additional specific safety requirements and test methods for cableways
EN 1176-5 Playground equipment and surfacing – Part 5: Additional specific safety requirements and test methods for carousels
EN 1176-6 Playground equipment and surfacing – Part 6: Additional specific safety requirements and test methods for rocking equipment
EN 1176-7 Playground equipment and surfacing – Part 7: Guidance on installation, inspection, maintenance and operation
EN 1176-10 Playground equipment and surfacing – Part 10: Additional specific safety requirements and test methods for fully enclosed play equipment
EN1176-11 Playground equipment and surfacing – Part 11: Additional specific safety requirements and test methods for spatial network
EN 1177 Impact attenuating playground surfacing – Determination of critical fall height
EN 15312 Free access multi-sports equipment – Requirements, including safety, and test methods
EN 14974 Skateparks — Safety requirements and test methods
EN 16630 Permanently installed outdoor fitness equipment – Safety requirements and test methods
EN 16899 Sports and recreational equipment — Parkour equipment — Safety requirements and test methods
EN 12572-2 Artificial climbing structures – Part 2: Safety requirements and test methods for bouldering walls
EN 12572-3 Artificial climbing structures – Part 3: Safety requirements and test methods for climbing holds
EN 16579 Playing field equipment — Portable and socketed goals — Functional and safety requirements and test methods
The following pages are introductions to main standards concerning safety of playgrounds and recreational sports areas.
