The RPII explains ‘safe’ and play area
safety inspectors and inspections.
Outdoor play areas in the
park — Outdoor Play Safety
Surfacing
Multi-use Ball Courts — Skateboard, Roller Blade &
BMX Tracks
School Playgrounds — Special Needs Play
Areas
Paid-for Indoor Soft Play Areas or Family Entertainment
Centres
Multigenerational Play Areas in Public Parks — Pub
Gardens
They may all seem very different. They all have one thing in
common; Responsible play providers want them to be safe. Of course
play providers, children and parents want them to be exciting,
challenging and to offer appropriate levels of risk. Safety
includes meeting current European and British safety standards and
guidelines. When an indoor or outdoor play area passes an RPII
post-installation safety inspection or an annual safety inspection
it is confirmed as suitable for purpose.
What is ‘Safe’?
The European and British play area safety standards and
guidelines set specification criteria on the design of equipment
and the layout of the site to minimise the possibility of severe
life-changing injury as well as minimising collision injury-causing
hazards.
While many play area safety surfaces offer spin-off advantages
of draining well, having good grip, displaying colourful graphics,
and reducing grazes from tumbles and trips, that is not their
primary purpose. Their most important job is to reduce the severity
of a head injury from a fall – even from the maximum fall
height of three metres. Safe does not mean without risk of injury.
It means risk within acceptable limits. Play area safety inspectors
make certain that play areas meet BS EN 1176 and BS EN 1177 and are
risk assessed to ensure they meet essential safety levels for the
user. So inspectors must be knowledgeable, raising the question:
Who examines their competence?
Enter The RPII
In 1999 the API, ILAM, FIT (was NPFA) and RoSPA set up the
Register of Play Inspectors International (RPII) to certificate
competence in play safety inspection and eligibility for inclusion
in its Register. The RPII sets the examination syllabus and runs
examinations. It also works closely with the BSI and the HSE. The
RPII is not a training organisation, however it lists contact
details of companies that offer training for all types of play
safety inspections. Before the RPII, safety inspection was variably
available through some other organisations and some self-appointed
independent inspectors. Inspectors from reputable organisations and
individuals should be RPII registered.
Annual play area safety inspectors, who are RPII registered
inspectors, have their competence examined and certificated. That
is repeated every three years. RPII inspectors are listed at
www.playinspectors.com so play
providers can easily find a specialist independent inspector. The
site also lists staff of play providers who have been trained and
certified.
Routine or Daily Outdoor Inspection are usually carried out by
the staff involved with play areas; the RPII has certificated some
1500 people to do daily inspection. Some are council staff. Some
are employees of grounds maintenance companies. Others are teachers
or caretakers. At the next level up Outdoor Operational Inspection
takes a closer look. Now, nearly five hundred play area associated
staff have RPII outdoor operational inspection certification. Top
of the inspector tree are the 100 or so RPII qualified annual play
safety inspectors. They are full-time and independent. They inspect
and report on outdoor, indoor and inflatable play. They are RPII
certificated to conduct annual and post-installation play safety
inspections. Beyond that, a handful of senior RPII inspectors
examine and certificate the full-time RPII registered inspectors.
Even they are regularly examined as part of the RPII rigour. Such
is the appeal of this methodology it is attracting overseas
interest. Truly international, the RPII now has annual inspectors
in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Romania, Denmark and Ireland,
with the Federation of European Play Industries (FEPI) advocating
the system be rolled out throughout the EEC.
Routine Inspection
Routine visual inspection is to spot obvious hazards resulting
from vandalism, normal use or weather conditions and can take the
form of broken parts or hazardous litter. Routine inspections
may be carried out daily or weekly depending on use. Routine
inspectors’ normal jobs mean they are on hand regularly to
conduct and record these inspections.
Operational Inspection
The Operational inspection is a more detailed inspection to
check on equipment operation and stability, especially for
wear. It should be carried out monthly or quarterly,
depending on usage of the play area. It may be carried out by
RPII examined and certificated inspectors. Operational
inspectors should keep records of all inspections.
Annual Safety Inspections
The Standards require a competent inspector to carry out annual
inspections and submit reports. This is specialist work and
requires independence, competence and experience. In practice
a third party usually carries out annual inspections. Their
reports may be used as legal evidence in a court case should
litigation occur, or in disputes between play providers and
installers.
Post-Installation Inspectors
RPII registered annual inspectors are certificated competent to
inspect and report on newly installed play areas. A play
provider’s decision to open a new play area to children
should depend on these post-installation reports - that it has been
assessed as suitably safe, complies with the safety standards and
installed correctly.
Fit for Purpose
In addition to certification for examination, RPII Annual
Inspectors must: be CRB checked; have professional indemnity and
public liability insurance; annually sign and abide by the RPII
Code of Conduct. The Code also sets an uncompromising
standard for the way RPII Registered Inspectors are required to go
about their business. It is available on the RPII website and can
be offered by RPII Inspectors as part of their terms of engagement
to client play providers. These additional criteria ensure play
providers of certificated competence that is up to date and of an
RPII registered inspectors’ ability to meet pre-qualification
criteria. They are indeed the hallmarks of quality in play safety
inspection.
Indoors and Outdoors
At the start of 2007 the RPII launched its syllabus and ran the
first certifications for Annual Inspectors of Fully Enclosed Play
Equipment (FEPE). The syllabus and exams are based on the currently
guideline ‘Soft Indoor Play Areas – A Code of
Practice’ (BS 8409:2002). It will be replaced by a new Part
10, to the European play safety standard, EN 1176 being drawn up
now and is expected to be adopted throughout the EEC during 2008.
The RPII will update to that. Like outdoor inspectors, indoor play
inspectors are listed at: www.playinspectors.com
Castles of Air
The PIPA scheme for the annual inspection and certification of
inflatable play equipment carried out by RPII inspectors has been
classed by the HSE as ‘best practice’. It ensures
equipment complies with the current European Standard on inflatable
equipment; EN14960:2006. It also reassures the public that a bouncy
castle and other inflatable play equipment, on which children are
about to play, has been designed and built to a strict safety
specification. RPII inspectors are trained to find and
identify hazards and recommend solutions. There are now more
than forty RPII registered annual inspectors for inflatables.
Play area safety inspections - are not the law.
Safety inspections are not a legal requirement but in any court
they form an essential part of resisting a claim. The European and
British standard for outdoor play areas and equipment is BS EN 1176
and BS EN 1177. Currently for indoor play, BS8409:2002 applies and
BS EN14960:2006 for inflatable play. All of these standards are
recommendations, not legal requirements.
So why inspect?
Play providers want successful safety inspections because
everyone wants children to be safe – including insurers.
Annual safety inspection are a requirement in the Standards and
seen as Best Practice by the Health and Safety Executive. Play
providers have a duty of care and are legally responsible to ensure
risk assessments are carried out for all types of play equipment
and provision. Risk assessment is a legal requirement as specified
in the Health & Safety at Work Act 1994 & Regulations
1999. Mandatory risk assessment would be incomplete without
an annual safety inspection report or without reports from more
frequent inspections.
As safe as necessary – not as safe as possible
With safety standards in use, safety inspectors and manufactures
wish to see as much challenge and excitement as possible, This
includes opportunities for children to assess risk and learn what
they can and cannot to do as they grow. Play has many roles
including being vitally important in child development. More
broadly, play areas also provide meeting areas for children and the
adults they bring with them. This contributes an important social
and community role for play areas. Children and families take play
area safety for granted. The RPII inspectors job is to ensure they
are right in their assumed confidence and trust.
The RPII provides recognised examinations for safety inspection
of children's play areas and equipment. It fulfils such a key role
within the play industry that after just six years, many play
providers now specify RPII certification as the required and
recognisable standard.