Tests of sports equipment
All sports equipment must be assessed both in the factory and once they have been installed in the different sports areas before use. This is because any product placed on the market must be safe, and those responsible must be able to guarantee its safety during its entire useful life, which includes inspections and appropriate maintenance, in order to ensure its usability.
All of this benefits the manufacturer and the person responsible for ensuring that the sports equipment complies with the European Directive on General Product Safety 1801/2003, which applies to all member states of the European Union and has been transposed nationally. This implies that when these products are placed on the market and used by the consumer they are safe.
It is essential that their safety be assessed each year due to the use made of them, 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.
As we are an international reference laboratory in everything related to the world of children, from the product to the environment, we are knowledgeable and experienced in child safety and we perform safety tests for all manner of sports equipment according to European and international legislation and regulations.
The sports equipment and the facilities themselves that we evaluate are:
- 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.
Services relating to the testing of sports equipment
Our tests are carried out according to the following European standards, applied to sports equipment:
- EN 748 “Playing field equipment. Football goals. Functional and safety requirements, test methods”.
- EN 749 “Playing field equipment. Handball goals. Functional and safety requirements, test methods”.
- EN 750 “Playing field equipment. Hockey goals. Functional and safety requirements, test methods”.
- EN 1270 “Playing field equipment. Basketball equipment. Functional and safety requirements, test methods”.
- EN 15312 “Free access multi-sports equipment. Requirements, including safety and test methods”.
- EN 16630 “Permanently installed outdoor fitness equipment. Safety Requirements and Test Methods”
- EN 16579 “Playing field equipment. Portable and permanent socketed goals. Functional, safety requirements and test methods ”.
- EN 16664 “Playing field equipment. Lightweight goals. Functional, safety requirements and test methods”.
- EN 14974 “Facilities for users of roller sports equipment. Safety requirements and test methods.”
Benefits of testing sports equipment in accordance with current regulations
Thanks to our technical expertise and our active participation in various national and international standardisation forums and committees related to child safety, we help and facilitate the industry’s continuous updating in the design of its products, always under the latest regulatory or pre-regulatory changes or possible future changes, given that standards are dynamic documents that are modified according to the needs of the sector, due to its continuous innovation or to incidents detected and not previously foreseen, when the document was prepared.
We are the only centre at national level with proven technical expertise, as we are the first laboratory in Spain to be accredited by the ENAC (the National Accreditation Entity) according to ISO/IEC 17025 to test playground equipment and surfacing, and according to ISO/IEC 17020, as a playground and sports field inspection body.
How we carry out sports equipment tests
Sports equipment is thoroughly checked both in the factory and once installed in the playing field, as the tests can be destructive given that they can be influenced by applying structural loads, the way they have been installed and the climatic conditions to which they are exposed.
Our test reports are accepted in Europe, due to our positioning, as we are recognised in European and international forums as experts in child safety.
Our experience in testing sports equipment
More than 30 years’ experience in child safety and extensive experience in conducting safety tests on children’s products, in risk assessment and in play and sports environments. Our laboratory has specific facilities in which we carry out these tests. Our technicians also travel to manufacturers’ premises and to sports facilities in order to evaluate the different products in situ. All the measurement equipment we use: probes, weights, transport trolley, dynamometer, etc. are calibrated, both externally and internally, as our laboratory is accredited according to ISO/IEC 17025 and has sufficient expertise to calibrate its own measurement equipment.
