IAAPA’s relationship with international safety collaborators helps steer the attractions industry

Nov 08, 2016

For many decades, IAAPA has partnered with ASTM International and AIMS International to provide the industry with standardized safety guidelines and training. The three global organizations share the goal of creating safe environments for guests and staff worldwide. “ASTM creates safety standards, IAAPA connects with manufacturers and operators globally, and AIMS has a specific safety education and certification platform,” says Franceen Gonzales, WhiteWater West Industries executive vice president, business development. “Participating in all three organizations supports the successful implementation of enhanced industry safety measures. As attractions are developed worldwide, it is very important that they start with a solid safety foundation and we want to always be improving as an industry.”

Gonzales serves on the board of directors for AIMS International, the IAAPA Global Safety Committee and IAAPA Global Manufacturers and Suppliers Committee, and the board of directors for ASTM International, where she is also vice chair for the ASTM F24 Committee. The ASTM F24 committee governs 20 safety standards specific to the attractions industry. These standards address design, operations, maintenance, inspections, training, and manufacturing for amusement rides and devices, and were created to apply anywhere in the world. Their purpose is to guide manufacturers and operators to create, operate, inspect, and maintain rides in a consistent way.

ASTM International isn’t the only organization focused on safety for the attractions industry, and that’s where IAAPA and AIMS International come in. “The groups have many common members, so there truly is a team effort in strategic moves to enhance industry safety,” Gonzales says. “One initiative is the harmonization effort to create consistency with the various global standards. Individual countries decide what standards are applied, so it is important that these standards be harmonized so manufacturers can design in the same way and rides can be built with consistency around the world. It is these standards that formulate the basis for safety training specific to our industry.” IAAPA’s standards-harmonization work has included the ASTM standards as well as the European standards developed by CEN and the new ISO standard.

Between IAAPA’s global network of members and AIMS International’s training operations, the collaboration has helped communicate universal standards. “Working together, we can reach more people around the world to certify with recognized training that enhances safety in operations, maintenance, and inspection,” Gonzales says.

To learn more about IAAPA’s work in safety and ASTM F24, click here.  To discover all that AIMS International does, click here.

This article originally appeared in the November 2016 issue of Funworld, the official magazine of IAAPA.