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Play Inspection? It is an MOT - but it’s not the law! |
Inspection is a choice. Best practice is a choice. Nowhere does it say, ‘You must’. Play providers have a choice. Safety inspections are not a legal requirement. That is where the choices stop. Just ask one question, ‘Is it safe?’ For an answer we need a consistent method to measure and assess what we check for safety. That method needs to be to an agreed standard or it would be meaningless. Help is at hand and the Standards exist.
The agreed European and British standard for play areas and equipment is BS EN 1176 while BS EN 1177 is the safer surfacing standard. They are used to assess the safety of all outdoor play areas and equipment. They are recommendations not legal requirements.
Why inspect annually? Because that level of inspection is recommended in the Standards and is seen as Best Practice by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The Standards also recommend Routine and Operational Inspections.
Routine visual inspection is to spot obvious hazards. These can result from vandalism, use or weather conditions and can take the form of broken parts or bottles. Routine inspections may be carried out daily or weekly depending on use. Suitably trained grounds maintenance staff can do this inspection and make a simple record of their findings. It may sometimes be part of their job to clean the area and remove litter.
The Operational inspection is a more detailed inspection to check on equipment operation and stability, especially for wear. They should be carried out monthly or quarterly, depending on use, or as indicated by the manufacturer. They may be carried out by RPII examined and certificated inspectors. Operational inspectors should keep records of all inspections and some may carry tools and replacement parts to repair and parts as they go.
The Standards require a competent inspector to carry out annual inspections and submit reports. This is specialist work and requires experience. In practice an experienced third party usually carries out annual inspections. The inspector will be independent of the play provider, designer, manufacturer and installer. Their reports may be used as legal evidence in a court case should litigation occur, or in disputes between play providers and installers.
Annual Inspectors are also called on to check newly installed play areas On inspectors’ reports may rest play providers’ decisions to open the new play area to children. Play providers want to know from a competent inspector that a new play area has been assessed as suitably safe, complies with the safety standards and has been installed correctly.
Just like vehicle MOTs, all playground safety inspections take a serious look at what is present, its condition and its layout by comparison with the standards for its age. Just like an MOT, amendments to standards are sometimes made. Unlike a vehicle MOT, compliance is not a legal requirement nor is Best Practice.
While local grounds maintenance staff can do routine inspections, play providers need competent inspectors for operational, annual or post-installation inspections. How can play providers be certain of ‘competence’? That question and varied interpretation of safety standards led four industry bodies, API, ILAM, NPFA and RoSPA to set up the RPII in 1999. The RPII (Register of Play Inspectors International) exists to certificate competence in play safety inspection and eligibility for inclusion in its register. This it does via its own examinations and lists as Members those it certificates. Members are listed the RPII website. The RPII examines competence for all three types of inspections: routine, operational and annual. It sets the training syllabus and runs the examinations but the RPII is not a training organisation. It does, however, list contact details of companies that offer training on its website. It is also succeeding in minimising varied interpretation.
While inspection and reporting is not compulsory, play providers have many reasons to ensure they comply with and beyond the standards and guidelines. These include ensuring children’s play areas are safe and minimising the risk of serious injury. They help in maintaining play equipment for its serviceable life to get Best Value from costly investments. Play providers also want to avoid litigation and ‘no win no fee’ lawyers as claims are paid from Council taxes. So while inspection is a matter of choice, it is in practice, a play provider’s route to Best Practice for safe play, Best Value and their own peace of mind and avoiding litigation.