Striving for Safety David Randall outlines Australia’s legislative requirements for Amusement Devices
David Randall at work (and below).
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lthough Australia is not a major manufacturer of amusement devices, there are strict legislative requirements in each state and territory regarding the manufacture, operation and maintenance of amusement devices. AS/NZS 3533 Amusement Devices and Attractions series was developed as a guide for the requirements for managing amusement devices. In some states, this guide is mandatory, such as South Australia and until recently Western Australia, as it is referred to within their legislation and in other states and territories, it remains a best practice model as it is referred to in Codes of Practice which are again enforceable by law. There are various requirements imposed upon users and importers of amusement devices and I have summarised these as follows. Design Registration For an amusement device to be operated in Australia, it must
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have a design registration number. To get a design registration number, the purchaser must have the ride independently verified that the ride is compliant to the standard to which it was manufactured. In Australia, we can use European, Australian or American standards as the reference documents. To achieve design verification, the process should be that the owner engages registered professional engineers within each discipline to review the various functions of the ride. In most cases, the following engineering professionals will be required: •A safety engineer to review the overall compliance of the ride against the relevant standard to which it was manufactured. The safety engineer will be a qualified engineer in a discipline such as mechanical engineering with an auditing and safety qualification. •A mechanical engineer to review the design of the mechanical components using finite element analysis modelling to ensure appropriate factors of safety have been achieved in the design. •A structural engineer will be engaged to determine the appropriate foundations for wind loading and that the structure is suitable for the loads imposed upon it during operation. This is a verification against the designer’s specification. •A control systems engineer will be engaged to ensure the control systems are compliant with the relevant standard. Significant work has been undertaken by the Regulator to ensure that any ride over 10 years of age has had its control systems reviewed to bring them up to current requirements. •An electrical engineer will be engaged to ensure that all electrical wiring and circuits are compliant with local regulations which refer to AS/NZS 3000. As part of the process, the DRA Safety engineer develops the following documents to ensure the maintenance requirements of the ride satisfy both the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and AS3533 requirements: •A critical components list (a component that if it fails will lead to damage of persons or property) with full non-destructive testing (NDT) requirements detailed for the user. •Restraint risk assessments to ensure the restraint complies
