API provides guidance on adult outdoor fitness equipment

Adult Outdoor Fitness Equipment offers many benefits to the local communities in which it is installed.  

It is designed to provide a free access facility offering the benefits of Cardio Vascular and repetitive exercise patterns.

It helps promote healthy living and provides a gateway for wider fitness activities. The equipment is intended for people aged 14+ with an overall height of 1.4m and over.

Now the Association of Play Industries (API) has issued new guidance. It states that Adult Outdoor Fitness Equipment is not:

    Designed, intentioned or proportioned for children
    Covered by the BS EN 1176 Playground Equipment standard
    Covered by the BS EN 957 Stationary Training Equipment standard

When it comes to installation, clients and suppliers are currently using widely-different and sometimes inappropriate standards and specifications.  This is causing confusion the market place.

While some are using the German (DIN 79000) or French national standard (XP S 52-904), others are using the UK BS EN 1176 Playground Equipment standard which relates only to children's play equipment or the BS EN957 Stationary Training Equipment standard which relates to indoor gym equipment.

To add to the confusion, the PAS888 Publicly accessible outdoor exercise equipment specification was published in May 2013.  This has been commercially sponsored and is not a national standard.
The solution: EN 16630

To cut through the confusion, the good news is that excellent progress is being made on the development of EN 16630, A new European standard for general safety requirements for the manufacture, installation, inspection and maintenance of permanently installed, freely accessible outdoor fitness equipment.  Until EN 16630 is available, the API advises those planning to install Outdoor Adult Gym Equipment to use the existing German or French national standards.

The API states that the existing German or French national standards should be used because:

    They clearly distinguish Outdoor Fitness Equipment from Children's Play Equipment
    They provide a clear route towards both compliance with a recognised safety standard and the forthcoming European Standard
    They are already used by the RPII for inspection purposes
    They allow greater alignment with the new European standard once published
    They provide clear distinction in scope on recommended adult age and height range
    They address health and user hazards

What to do when positioning Adult Outdoor Fitness Equipment:

    Undertake a rigorous Risk: Benefit assessment. Some items pose a higher risk than others e.g. those with moving parts
    Assess the proximity of unsupervised children's play equipment
    Assess the age range suitability of other facilities or equipment close by
    Assess the need for screening or other separation to reduce inducement to children
    Assess the suitability of the surface onto which the products will be installed
    Clearly and permanently mark equipment as not suitable for children's play and with instructions for use