To increase ride safety, Italian manufacturers need to join forces and share analysis and solutions.
 
A TECHNICAL COMMITTEE TO FACE THE NEW CHALLENGES
by Enrico Fabbri
 
Ferrara, 6 December 1986: an informal meeting led to the decision to found ANCASVI (the Italian association of funfair ride manufacturers). The meeting was attended by representatives of all the leading Italian manufacturers of the time, including SDC, CETI, Europark, Melpark, 3B Bertazzon, Soriani & Moser, IE Park, Zamperla, Carpenteria 2000, 3A, Pollini, Pinfari, Contin and naturally Far Fabbri, represented by my father, Alfonso Fabbri.

I, who had not yet turned 18, accompanied my father that day. On arriving I met Danilo Tosetto, already back then a reporter who closely followed all the main events in our sector. Gianni Chiari, a member of the organising committee, at that meeting described ‘a proposed working group for establishing funfair standards,’ subsequently to be developed with UNI, the Italian standards organisation. Most of those present were not yet convinced of the need to join together and form an association. Mr. Spaggiari from SDC, for example, suggested the creation of a specific group within Confindustria, the national association covering all industries. Clearly, the bigger manufacturers had no desire to share their technical and market knowledge with other smaller companies.

For many years, ANCASVI dedicated almost all of its resources to establishing the first Italian UNI standard, and subsequently to the development of the first European standard, EN-13814, a process in which Italy managed the secretariat of the CEN/TC 152 working group. This important result was achieved thanks to the constant commitment of Gianni Chiari, who I would like to once again thank here, on behalf of everyone involved. At the start of the process for political approval of this standard, there was opposition from Germany, Great Britain and France, who voted against it. Over time, however, the appeal of having a simple tool shared across Europe became evident, and now EN-13814 is supported by all European countries. The new edition of EN-13814 and the publication of ISO-17842 represent the conclusion of a long period of work, and represent an international reference point that is essential for facing new challenges.

In my previous articles, I have covered different topics concerning risk analysis, the effects of fatigue, the determination of safety components, the importance of inspections, the liability of manufacturers and potential negligence. All key topics that are now common even in sectors other than ours.

To deal with these topics in the best possible way, ANCASVI has decided to establish a Technical Committee that allows manufacturers and their engineers to meet and discuss ideas so as to identify common solutions on many aspects that, despite not being actual technical standards, are growing in importance. Italy boasts some of the world’s leading manufacturers and thus deserves, through ANCASVI, more exposure in many areas. Great Britain, for example, has established NAFLIC/ADIPS as an important technical group for inspections on rides that all European manufacturers now refer to.

For the future, I personally believe that the ANCASVI Technical Committee should examine topics such as:
– Precautions for the installation of transportable rides;
– Analysis of accidents occurring on rides in order to improve prevention;
– Analysis of annual inspection criteria in other countries and growing markets;
– Conferences between manufacturers and users to share information and further examine reciprocal needs;
– Determination of the end-of-life of existing and newly-constructed rides;
– Procedures to adopt during accidents;
– Conferences and updates between the industry’s professional technical personnel and the manufacturers’ technical personnel;
– Publication on the association’s website of the manufacturers’ safety bulletin.

Many of these objectives are achievable and will only be effective if achieved with the collaboration of the main Italian manufacturers in our sector. This is the inheritance that has been left to our new generation by those who almost 30 years ago founded ANCASVI with such vigour.

 

 

 

Written by Mr. Enrico Fabbri enrico@fabbrirides.com
Article originally published in Games Industry (Italy) magazine
Original date: December 2015

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