NKFH: hidden dangers on slides and rope courses, the consumer protection authority found hundreds of illegal devices

The authority’s staff launched the large-scale inspection series in the spring, which covered water slides in aquaparks and beaches, rope courses and climbing walls in adventure parks, amusement park equipment, and entertainment equipment used at festivals, children’s camps, and village days. Inspections of devices installed in outdoor fitness parks were also part of the inspections.

The inspections covered the markings on the equipment’s data plates and the equipment’s certificates of conformity, which confirm the safety determined by experts. Of particular importance among these is the indication of how many people can safely use the given equipment or sports equipment at the same time. The authority also examined whether the operators regularly keep an operation log, in which the operation of the equipment, any errors that may occur and their repair can be monitored.

Special attention was paid to the highest and medium-risk equipment according to height or speed, where the operator’s qualification certificates for safe operation were also checked. The inspection also covered whether the operators had fulfilled the obligations of periodic technical inspections. In the case of fitness parks and outdoor fitness equipment, the content of the information boards placed was also an inspection criterion.

By mid-August, employees of the capital and county government offices had inspected a total of 2,853 devices at 517 locations. According to the results, 336 devices (12 percent) at 71 locations (14 percent) did not comply with the legal requirements. The irregularities included missing or incorrect certificates of conformity, incorrectly stated load capacity, and incomplete maintenance of operating logs. Due to the violations, the authority imposed a fine of 8,350,000 forints and, in justified cases, prohibited the use of the devices until the operator had taken the necessary safety measures.