STANDARDS
UNDERSTANDING SAFETY SYSTEMS STANDARDS Do changes in industry standards make course design upgrades necessary? Have you ever wondered whether your aerial adventure course must upgrade its safety systems or components when industry standards change? For example, if your course is 10 years old, are you required to upgrade the course to comply with the newest standards? If so, how often and how large of a change must you make? How flexible are regulators when it comes to upgrades? There are few simple answers to these questions, but understanding how the main standards consider and define safety systems is a good place to start. The following definitions for safety systems from the ANSI/ACCT Standards provide some context.
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Life safety system: A configuration of components including lifelines, belay beams, and anchorages that support fall restraint and arrest systems, personal safety systems, belay systems, and/or rope rigging systems.
2 Personal safety system: A system of equipment that connects a person to an anchorage or lifeline with the intention of limiting fall distance and impact force to a predetermined maximum. Used in situations where the individual is likely to regain footing and positioning. Operational requirements for personal safety systems vary across jurisdictions.
LIFE SAFETY SYSTEMS
In this article we will focus on life safety systems and the industry standards related to modifications of them. To many of you, this topic will seem “structural” in nature instead of product or equipment related, which typically applies for personal safety systems. We hope to provide you with a foundation of understanding when exploring the differences between applicable standards. Standards, codes, user manuals, and jurisdictional requirements are constantly changing. It’s difficult to keep track of all the changes for those of us who watch for them constantly, and even harder for those who own, facilitate, manage, train, and otherwise supervise aerial adventure courses or components. When the changes come, and nothing has changed on our courses (both operation and structure), there can come a gap between what the “rules” say and what is happening at your operation. So the questions arise: Is my course out of code compliance? Does my operation no longer meet the standard? What requirements can force me to change? Are there ways to keep doing what we are doing?
By DAVID MERRELL, PE, MLSE, Hubbard Merrell Engineering and MICAH HENDERSON, Vertical Solutions Consulting
While most of us would like to have the latest and greatest equipment and structures, and we’d like to follow the best practices available, there can be significant expense to doing so. If you have had relatively good success in what you are doing and the cost is high to change, when does practicality take a back seat to a changed standard? WHAT THE STANDARDS REQUIRE
We looked at common standards that affect our work (mostly in the United States) to see what they tell us we “must” do. What follows is a high-level analysis of how revisions to certain standards and laws may affect your course. We reviewed the following: ASTM F24 Standards (F2959-19 Standard Practice for Aerial Adventure Courses and other referenced/ related ASTM standards) Association for Challenge Course Technology’s (ACCT) Standard (ANSI/ ACCT 03-2019) International Code Council’s Existing Building Code (IEBC 2018) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA 2010) Existing courses may be required to follow one or more of these standards, depending on the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) at their location, as well as others beyond those listed here. Further, the Professional Ropes Course