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Standards for High Ropes and Adventure Constructions – how to ensure they are applicable and applied!

There are several standards which can be applied to adventure constructions. If your not a construction company, or haven't had the time to read through all of them, it's hard to know what applies to what! We have set out below some précis to the currently most used standards in the UK. These précis are intended to be quick reference/overview and nothing more.

Applicable and applied is also difficult as anyone can say that their construction complies to a standard in a very convincing way. That does not mean that it actually does!

Probably the most important recent development is the AAIAC document which stipulates, among other things, a need to conform with EN 15567. The cornerstone of EN 15567 is a Type A inaugural inspection by an approved inspector. (Type A,B or C inspectors are classified by EN 17020 which is about inspection procedures not what is being inspected!!) For ERCA inspection purposes a Type A is a fully independent inspector who only inspects high ropes installations, a Type B will inspect and maintain high ropes and a Type C will build, inspect and maintain high ropes.

At the time of writing this – 16.1.11 – there is only one ERCA approved Type A inspector in the UK. His name is Paul Capper. If the company supplying your installation do not know who he is and are not using his services it is highly unlikely that your installation will comply with EN 15567 – unless they have flown over Mr Walter Siebert an ERCA approved Type A inspector based in Austria - in which case your eyes will be watering at the additional cost of his travel expenses.

Rope Course Construction has undertaken to have all our new builds inspected to EN 15567. This is a bold move as our prices will be slightly higher due to the added inspections costs – and we will not be able to compete with those companies that do not apply this high standard. But we fully understand that we are not going to win every contract so in the interests of furthering good practice in the High Ropes industry – and hopefully aiding the departure of the ‘low cost’ element - we have taken the unusual step of endorsing two of our competitors who we know will build to this standard.

They are – RCD and JM Adventure

If you have any doubts about what you are being told - including what is written on this website - please contact the ERCA and ask them! They can be found on the ERCA website.

AAIAC ( Adventurous Activity Industry Advisory Committee) – The UK Ropes Course Guide

Full Title: The UK Ropes Course Guide

No of Pages: 32

Description: Guidance intended to assist all those involved with ropes courses to comply with EN: 15567 which sets out the standards to be met for the installation of new ropes courses and the operation of both new and existing courses.

Points of Interest:

A good ‘layman’s’ guide to High Ropes
Drawn up by – amongst others – The Health and Safety Executive, Adventurous Activity Licensing Service, ERCA, Adventurous Activity Industry Advisory Committee
Good pictures
Clear understandable guidance
States that low ropes are ‘out’ of the scope of 15567

EN 15567 - Part 1

Full Title: EN 15567 Sports and recreational facilities - ropes courses - Part 1: Construction and safety requirements

No of Pages: 27

Description: The latest standard for ropes courses, both mobile and fixed. Still provisional - due to be available June 2008. (source BSI) Full of references, nomenclature, standards for materials, design requirements, safety requirements, descriptions of systems with guidelines for testing/verification and handover procedures/documentation.

Points of Interest:

Belay systems should be tested to 6 kN (611 kgs) without deformation with a safety factor of 3,0
Contains a very comprehensive list of procedures that construction companies must adhere to before handover
Contains a very comprehensive list of paperwork that construction companies must present to the customer
Contains a very comprehensive list of all markings that must be placed on the course
In order to comply - at present - the course must be inspected by a Class A type inspector. This means someone who is fully independent, who does not build or maintain ropes courses. ERCA is looking to provide this accreditation and is working on the standards currently

EN 15567 - Part 2

Full Title: EN 15567 Sports and recreational facilities - ropes courses - Part 2: Operation requirements.

Description: The latest standard for ropes courses, both mobile and fixed.

EN 12572

Full title: BS EN 12575: 1999 Artificial climbing structures - Protection points, stability requirements and test methods

No of Pages: 11

Description: A short and easy to understand standard it lays outs, with the aid of diagrams and calculations, the design and test requirements to apply to an ACS (Artificial Climbing Structure)

Points of Interest

This standard is primarily for climbing walls
The structure itself should be designed to be stable - meaning that it's no use having bomber anchors if the ACS is likely to fall over! So if you have a climbing tower you should have the engineers calculations which show that it conforms to the standard? Although this paperwork is not a requirement of the standard *
All off ground belay/anchor points should be load tested to to 8 kN (815.77 kilos, 2185.64 pounds to be precise!)
All ground anchors should be tested to 4 kN (407 kilos)
There should be a plate or notice on the ACS stating amongst other things: name of manufacturer, date of installation, date of test, how many routes, how many routes can be used at the same time, max no's on the ACS
You should have been given a manual which: explains all the information on the marking plate and shows the position and type of the protection points on the ACS
If you have no manual, no plate it doesn't fully comply.
Any company worth their salt should give you the engineers calculations and design drawings.
You should have some evidence of the date and type of testing.

European Ropes Course Association

Full title: Professional Standards for Mobile and Permanent Ropes Courses

No of Pages: Lots!

Description: ERCA have a very comprehensive set of standards which cover the following:

Code of Professional Conduct
Operational Standards * Installation Standards for Mobile Courses
Installation Standards for permanent Ropes Courses
Technical Inspection Standards
Training Standards

Rope Course Construction Standards

We try very hard to exceed ALL of the safety standards. Below are two examples of ways in which we exceed them. We apply these principals to all aspects of our adventure constructions

RCC Wire Testing

Every time we use a new type of wire or ferrule we get Certex to do a destruction test on a sample swaging.

At the end of every construction we make up a sample swaged ‘eye’ for every type of wire we have used on that particular build – generally this will 1 x 8mm, 1 x 10mm and 1 x 12mm. These are then sent off to Certex for destruction testing. This means that every 30 – 50 ‘swages’ we have the efficiency of our swaging presses tested and we know that out ‘eyes’ and terminations are rated to the right breaking strains.

Test 1 is a destruction test of a 12mm wire termination, without thimble, to assess the Safe Working Load. Generally the SWL (Safe Working Load) is obtained by dividing the breaking load by the particular industry standard figure. Industries vary - for example the offshore oil industry requires a safety factor of 8. Meaning if they want something to lift a ton the test piece must hold 8 tons before it breaks. Given the weather conditions in the North sea this very high requirement is no surprise.

EN 15567, for example, requires a safety factor of 3. The load test figure is 6kN (611 kilos) which is multiplied by 3 to give a required SWL of 1.83 tons. Meaning that it must hold at least 5.49 tons before breaking.
EN 12572 requires a load test of 8kN with a minimum breaking load of 20kn ( 2039.43 kilos).

Our 12mm test piece broke at 12.52 tons (11367.02 kilos).

Test 2 is a stainless steel wire swaged with a copper ferrule. The stainless steel is necessary for adventure constructions close to the sea to slow down the corrosion process. Copper ferrules are used to prevent the galvanic corrosion that would be caused if an aluminium ferrule was used. This test piece broke at 10.2 tons. The wire snapped before our swaging moved at all!

Test 3 is a wire join. We found a joint like this on course we were inspecting. So out of curiosity we made one up and had it tested. It held at 10 tons so technically it is OK however it looks poor – joins like this should only be made if absolutely no other option is available!

RCC Anchors

There are two main types of anchor. Guy wire anchors and assisted belay (bottom rope) anchors. At one end of the construction market lengths of timber pole and small 'platypus' anchors are used to make these anchors. Neither are easy to inspect, both are cheap, both will fail at inspection sooner rather than later. Then the phrase 'cost of ownership' will rear it's ugly head! We have taken a decision to install easy to inspect, robust, long lasting, more expensive anchors which conform to adventure construction standards. You get what you pay for!

Guy Wire Anchors

For most adventure constructions guy wire anchors need to rated to 1 ton. This is equal to approximately a cubic meter of concrete. We insert a 25mm bent steel bar - which has been galvanised - into a 1M x 1M x 1.2M hole and then fill it up with FND2 - a sulphate resistant concrete. In the event of a long term problem a 20mm stainless 'through-bolt' can be drilled/placed into the concrete to replace/backup the bar. Inspection is easy. These anchors last for many years.

Assisted Belay Anchors - Ground Anchors

EN 15567 asks for a test load of 6kN per anchor. This is equal to 611 kilos. With a safety factor of 3 meaning that the system should be capable of holding 1833 kilos. EN 12575 ( Artificial Climbing Structures) ask for a load test of 4kN on ground belay points. Our ground anchors weigh 500 kilos each. By the time they have been buried and compacted they will easily withstand either test. They are made in the same way as our guy wire anchors. Easy to inspect, easy to maintain, easy to re-drill in the future. These anchors last for many years.

Ropes Course Useful Information

The information on this page serves two purposes.
Firstly it is intended to be used a reference point for those new to the Adventure Constructions.
Secondly it is here to help T&P with complying with BS EN 15567. This standard requires us to provide our Adventure Construction customers with operating procedures/inspection manuals for their equipment. To save us from producing reams of paper, customers can print directly from this page. When we upgrade information this can be selectively printed - which helps save time, money and paper - not to mention our overheads/office time - keeping us competitive and efficient!

Please use the links below to view our Adventure Construction information.

Generic Adventure Construction Risk Assessments
Daily - Monthly Inspection Procedures
Adventure Construction Operating Procedure - Jacob's Ladder
On-line Information - Useful Websites
Photo examples of items in need of attention!

WARNING: We do our best to ensure that the information on this page is up to date and accurate.

However DO NOT take anything as completely definitive - we ask other Adventure Construction professionals and technical advisors to check that what we are saying is correct, and seek advice/information from many other sources.

But just like anything else it's not perfect - so we regard this page as a working document - meaning it's regularly reviewed and updated it as we learn more - or are given new advice.

Inevitably someone you know will tell you we're talking rubbish, or we haven't covered this or that. If this is the case please do contact us- or ask them to - the more feedback we get the better this information page will be - meaning it will be better for everybody!

Generic Adventure Construction Risk Assessments

Risk Assessments - or the words 'risk assessment' - have become standard fare for all of us over the last 10 - 15 years. There are many types of risk assessment ranging from looking both ways when crossing a road to a full and formal risk assessment will involve the identifying the hazard, risk, likelihood, consequence and control.

The tables below are specific and generic to Adventure Constructions. They are based on a hazard - risk - control model.

HAZARD	RISK	CONTROL
Unqualified Staff	Equipment (PPE) not fitted correctly – Adventure Construction not used correctly	Staff should be suitably qualified and experienced before they are allowed to operate Adventure Constructions
Too many participants on the course	Participants not supervised correctly	A limit should be set on the number of participants allowed per session plus a ration of numbers to instructors
Extreme weather conditions	Electrocution, unsafe passage on elements, erratic pendulums, ropes blown beyond reach	Adventure Constructions should not be used during electrical storms or wind conditions of more that Force 5
PPE failure	Falls resulting in injury	All PPE should be inspected prior to its used – and subject to a weekly ‘logged’ inspection
Incorrect PPE	Falls resulting in injury	Only PPE recommended by the Adventure Construction installation company or technical advisors should be used - as a minimum all PPE should be CE approved used
Dropped objects	Head/Body injuries	Participants to remove all objects from their pockets

Daily - Monthly Inspection Procedures

Your Adventure Construction is formally handed over initially when it is built and then annually after external inspection. At this point it will be in condition to be used for a year. It is then the job of the centre to inspect it prior to each usage, monthly - and make a record of these inspections - and organise the annual external inspection.

At the handover someone from the Management Team as well as the person in charge and inspecting instructor/facilitators should be present. The constructor/external inspector should run through all aspects of daily/monthly inspections.

Once this has been done the daily inspections are basically looking for signs of change.

The monthly inspections are looking and feeling for signs of change, wear, movement and deterioration and checking with the aid of simple hand tools the tightness of connections.

Important aspects of inspection are

Carried out by the same people - not person - meaning that they will develop a 'feel' for the construction and will quickly notice changes.
The results are recorded - leaving an information trail
If in any doubt immediately call the construction company

The tables below is an example of what needs to be inspected and what to look for. (NB these tables are written for RCC Adventure Constructions)

Pre Usage Check
Item to Check	Remarks
Trees	Has the tree changes in appearance since last inspection - angle, splitting, signs of vandalism, fungus, branches
Poles	Has the pole changes in appearance since last inspection - angle, splitting, signs of vandalism, fungus, woodpecker/insect holes
Guy Wires	Are the wires still taught, connected properly, signs of vandalism
Rigging Screws	Still connected properly, locking nuts still in place, signs of vandalism
Shackles	Is split pins still in place, is nut still in place, signs of vandalism
Quick Links - Maillions	Still attached properly, still done up
Swages/Wire Rope Grips	Signs of slippage, still done up, signs of vandalism
Ground Anchors	Signs of anchor bar movement, signs of vandalism
Activity area ground	Signs of subsidence
Ropes	Signs of excessive wear, slippage, becoming loose, vandalism
Wires	Signs of excessive wear, slippage, becoming loose, vandalism
Ladders	Still attached properly, still in good order
Steelwork	Still in same position, still attached, any signs of twisting or deformation
Nuts, Bolts, Fixings	Still in place, still in same position, still looking done up

Monthly Check	Perform pre usage check, then:

Trees	Access tree - inspect in detail
Poles	Access poles - inspect in detail
Guy Wires	Check tautness, access one wire (rotate monthly) to inspect for signs of deterioration, signs of needling
Rigging Screws	Check nuts are tight with spanner/Tommy bar
Shackles	Check Nuts are tight with spanner
Quick Links - Maillions	Check closures are tight with spanner
Swages/Wire Rope Grips	Check wire rope grips are tight with spanners
Ground Anchors	Examine in detail look for signs of rust, metal fatigue
Activity area ground	Examine in detail - pay particular attention to area surrounding poles ( if poles are ground placement type)
Ropes	Examine in detail
Wires	Check tautness, excessive rust, signs of deterioration, signs of needling
Ladders	Check all fixings with spanners to ensure tight
Steelwork	Examine in detail - look for signs of movement, signs of metal fatigue, signs of excessive rust
Nuts, Bolts, Fixings	Examine in detail, check tight with spanners

Adventure Construction Operating Procedure:

Operating Procedures are simply a written statement as to how things in a business/centre/session will be run. They can be as simple as 'Employ suitably qualified staff' to complicated large volumes detailing every aspect of every operation in precise detail. Both methods will hopefully achieve the same result - the professionally safe delivery of a product/activity.
Most of us want to keep things as simple as possible - the following is a very basic model of how to begin

Decide exactly what activities you are going to run
Perform a risk assessment for all aspects of all activities
Decide what you need to do, from your risk assessment, to minimise the possibility of people getting hurt.
Write down what you are going to do and how you are going to do it - these notes will form the foundation of your operating procedures
Look at all the 'associated' requirements to run your activates - recruitment, training and reviewing
Get a professional person/organisation to validate that what you are doing adheres to 'current best practice' (AALS or BAHA).

Probably the most useful thing that you can do before you embark on anything is to go to the Adventurous Activity Licensing Service (AALS) website (link at bottom of page) and do some extensive reading.

We are members of the British Activity Holiday Association (BAHA). They have a number of senior members of the outdoor community working on standards and have excellent links with AALS and AAIAC. Rope Course Construction only uses BAHA Operating Procedures for Adventure Constructions as we regard them as the best and most up to date available.

These standards will be available on this website soon.

On-line Information - Useful Websites

Please use the links below to access huge amounts of useful information!

AAIAC’s new guidelines which relate to European Ropes Course Directive, the Working at Height Regulations and good working practices can be found at –

http://www.ccpr.org.uk

Adventurous Activity Licensing Scheme - 029 2075 5715

Probably the best place to start any search for information regarding Adventure Activities. Although they do not, at present, cover Adventure Constructions it is very easy to read what they do cover and transfer the information to Adventure Constructions.

Health and Safety Executive - 0845 345 0055

This file is an excellent place to start for those who do not have experience of risk assessments.

Institute of Occupational Safety and Health - 0116 257 3165

Excellent starter course in risk assessment.

Photo examples of items in need of attention!

Corroded Maillion