As a member of IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions), it was good to see the new public policy recommendations put forward by IAAPA EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa).

Number 1 priority for the new commission is ‘Putting Safety and Security First’.

IAAPA EMEA is recommending the following from policy-makers across the region:

➡️ IAAPA advocates for developing standards and regulations through active dialogue with policymakers and subject to regular review.

➡️ As ride engineering continuously innovates, safety processes must adapt. Standards and regulations must reflect the innovative application of safety practices, allowing for further advancements in ride design without compromising safety. Collaboration between policymakers and industry experts is critical.

➡️ New regulations and standards should leverage the latest safety knowledge, effectively address emerging considerations, promote international harmonisation, and foster continued innovation.

For our part, among a number of initiatives, ADIPS launched at our annual conference this month a new system for sharing safety updates industry-wide.

Called ASI (ADIPS Safety Information), this system draws together important news and developments in our industry such as safety alerts and new regulations, peer reviews and categorises them, and then shares with inspections bodies and operators. We believe this initiative very much supports IAAPA aims to collaborate, address ’emerging considerations’ and ‘foster continued innovation’.

At the same time, ADIPS regularly engages with policy-makers in the UK, most recently in Scotland, to make the case for high standards of safety in our amusements industry here.

We look forward to seeing progress by IAAPA EMEA in driving forward those recommendations across the region. ADIPS will do what we can to support this campaign.