Inspection of sports facilities
Owing to the use of sports facilities, whether in sports centres or in schools and colleges, and the wide variety of equipment involved and the groups that use them, we may find that the facilities themselves or the sports equipment used in the facility do not comply with the minimum safety standards required by current legislation.
If they are not managed correctly, this can lead to unseen and unforeseeable risk situations because we often do not notice that the materials are decomposing. That this is so is demonstrated by the fatal accidents that have occurred in our country in recent years, mainly due to goalposts and/or baskets collapsing during games in schools and institutes.
Those responsible for sports facilities, whether public or private, must guarantee and preserve the safety and health of users. Therefore, routine and maintenance inspections carried out by facility operators, as well as annual inspections by a competent inspection body, are essential.
Services relating to the inspection of sports facilities
We are an entity accredited by the ENAC to inspect sports facilities and equipment before it is put into service. Each year, we review all the requirements that may affect the safety of the actual facility or the equipment itself, such as stability, anchor points, structural integrity, entrapments, material finishes, etc.
All sporting equipment must be annually assessed due to the use made of it, mainly in those places where children and teenagers can play and practice sports freely or under supervision, given that they are more vulnerable in the case of any sporting equipment falling over, such as a basketball ring or a goal.
The sports equipment and the facilities themselves that we inspect are:
- Goals for: football, handball and hockey.
- Basketball equipment.
- Permanently installed outdoor fitness equipment (“Outdoor fitness circuits”, “Calisthenics”…).
- Facilities for users of roller sports equipment: Skate park.
- Free access multi-sports equipment.
- Portable and permanent socketed goals. (*)
- Lightweight goals. (*)
(*) Activities not covered by ENAC accreditation.
Benefits of inspecting sports facilities
- In Spain, national standards on sports and leisure facilities (NIDE), whose purpose is to define the regulatory and design conditions that must be considered in the construction of sports facilities, UNE standards, and European EN standards, collect minimum safety requirements that sports equipment and facilities must have in order to be able to offer minimum safety levels.
- Compliance with design requirements, proper inspections and maintenance, and annual certification of the facility, including its equipment, minimise the risks arising from the use of the equipment and can provide a guarantee of both the product and the facility itself, avoiding accidents, which can sometimes be fatal.
How we inspect sports facilities
Thanks to our accreditation and the experience we have amassed in child safety over the past more than 30 years, and under the umbrella of our accreditation as an inspection entity according to the reference standard UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020 “Conformity Assessment: Requirements for the operation of different types of inspection bodies”, we are able to assess all aspects related to the design, stability and resistance of sports equipment, as well as the documentation and management carried out in the installation itself.
Our experience
Our credentials since 1986, show the confidence that customers can have in us as we have spent more than 30 years monitoring child safety, and we are a national and international reference laboratory for the safety of children’s and leisure products.
