Do standards really matter?

Standards have a bad reputation: in agriculture, industry, and commerce, unions complain about rules being too demanding, too numerous, and sometimes contradictory. Even the French government deplores the complexity of regulations: “too many standards kill growth,” declared French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire in April 2024. Simplification is underway…

The same remarks apply in other European countries and the United Kingdom, which as early as 2010 eliminated two standards to create a new one by introducing the “one in, two out” policy, and even “one in, three out” in 2015.

Standards: Harmful or Beneficial for Business?

So, are standards detrimental to business? Quite the opposite!

In the context of leisure activities, they have helped reduce the number of serious accidents, secure equipment, organize supervision, crowd management, controls, and maintenance, thereby limiting risks for both players and operators.

France was a pioneer in regulations for collective play areas, with the first standard arriving in 1988 (standard S54-201), followed by a decree in 1994 (n°94-699 of August 10, 1994). With operators obliged to comply with standards, the number of serious accidents significantly decreased, and fatalities due to equipment disappeared.

When trampoline parks arrived in Europe in the early 2010s, no regulations existed. Standards for sports trampolines were not applicable, nor were those for play areas. In France, there was only the general safety obligation: “Products and services must, under normal conditions of use or other conditions reasonably foreseeable by the professional, provide the safety that can legitimately be expected and not harm people’s health.” But how to know what to do in a new activity and how to prove that one provides “legitimate safety”?

Consequences of the Absence of Standards

This led to trampoline parks opening with performance trampolines and no supervision, and the number of accidents increased in parallel with the number of new parks opened. A park in Eastern France held the record for serious accidents (requiring the intervention of firefighters): too few staff, no supervision, children left alone on the trampolines… Firefighters carried out more than 18 interventions per week on average! The DDPP (Departmental Directorate for Population Protection) had no means to close this park because there was no legal basis. After a few months of operation, the majority of families in the region had either their own child or a relative’s child injured during a session at the trampoline park. The market was devastated.

As a result, the new trampoline park that opened in the same urban area a few months later, with proper supervision and an adapted safety policy, took several years to convince families to visit its park and balance its accounts.

Thus, the arrival of experimental French standards initially (XP S52-370), followed by European ones (ISO EN 23659), allowed the activity to be regulated and drastically reduced the number of accidents. The market is thus developing normally, and the DDPP now has the means to control parks and, if necessary, close down dangerous operations that harm both players and the entire sector.

So yes, standards are essential for regulating an activity. They are necessary, on the one hand, to determine the minimum or optimal safety level required to ensure user safety. They allow the operator to choose activities based on the risks involved and the resulting obligations. For example, high ropes courses with a continuous lifeline require less operating staff, as players are always attached.

Standards also ensure equipment compliance, enhancing their safety level, protecting users as well as operators in the event of an accident. Indeed, an operator with compliant equipment can demonstrate that they have implemented “the safety that can legitimately be expected” and can thus be absolved of responsibility.

Advice for Operators

We strongly advise all project developers and leisure park operators to closely follow regulations and comply as much as possible with current standards.

As an expert involved in various standardization committees, Play In Business advises you on equipment selection, safety requirements, supervision obligations, and planned maintenance… to help you make the best choice for your operation.