Ensuring the Safety of Large Water Park Equipment
As living standards rise, amusement parks have become popular destinations for relaxation and leisure. The thrilling large-scale water park equipment is especially favoured by many visitors. However, accidents involving amusement equipment have occurred occasionally in recent years. As an equipment manufacturer of Guangzhou Blue Wave Water Park, several strategies have been proposed to ensure the safe operation of amusement equipment.
The government has placed significant emphasis on ensuring the safe operation of large-scale water park equipment. A safety supervision system has been implemented, and a series of regulations have been issued. Since 2000, large-scale water park equipment has been included in the special equipment catalogue. The State Council Order No. 373 “Special Equipment Safety Supervision Regulations” (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”) outlines clear guidelines for the design, manufacture, installation, transformation, maintenance, use, and inspection of amusement facilities. This has led to a more standardised approach to the safety and management of amusement facilities. Through the efforts of safety management departments at all levels, especially the special equipment safety supervision agency of the quality supervision department, national regulations and standards have been effectively implemented. This has significantly enhanced the safety awareness of relevant departments and increased societal attention, playing a crucial role in improving the quality and safety of the entire industry.
The safety of large-scale water park equipment is closely linked to the quality of manufacturing and installation. According to incomplete statistics, there are nearly 200 large-scale water park equipment manufacturing units nationwide. With fierce market competition, some enterprises have resorted to cutting corners and using substandard materials to gain profits. This has introduced inherent risks to equipment production. Currently, there is no relevant supervision and inspection outline or detailed rules, making it challenging to effectively oversee the manufacturing process, key material parts, processing, and assembly of large amusement facilities.
Quality control during the installation process is crucial for the safe operation of large-scale equipment. It has been observed that some amusement equipment factories do not adhere to the “construction quality plan” and construction technical documents, leading to a lack of strict process control. This results in randomness during installation, making it difficult to guarantee installation accuracy and quality. Large-scale amusement facilities cannot be shipped from the factory due to installation and transportation constraints. Some important steel structural parts must be assembled and welded on-site. If on-site construction personnel do not follow the construction process, the welding and installation quality will be compromised, posing hidden dangers to amusement equipment.
From the above perspective, controlling manufacturing quality, especially during the installation process, is crucial. The following three aspects should be prioritised:
First, thoroughly review the technical information of the amusement facilities, ensuring the completeness, correctness, and compliance of equipment-related information (licensing, design document identification and type test report, installation notification, factory documents, installation quality records, and certification documents). Verify the consistency of the actual equipment with the data (ensuring the conformity of the equipment installed on-site with the design drawings after identification and type testing, consistent with the type, model, and parameters of the manufactured and installed equipment).
Second, ensure effective supervision during the installation process. It is often found that during the manufacturing (installation) process, the manufacturing (installation) unit may add filler materials arbitrarily due to large processing errors, causing welding stress concentration or insufficient strength, which introduces hidden dangers. Most main connecting parts (booms, rails, safety bars, etc.) are welded on-site, and the welding quality is difficult to guarantee due to limited on-site conditions. Important parts (sliding shafts, rotating horses crankshafts, racing car steering shafts, etc.) may be welded with different types of steel or improperly selected welding wires (bars) when installed on-site. Defects such as cracks are extremely likely to appear. The welding seam is relatively concealed and difficult to disassemble and assemble. During the assembly process, welding is also challenging, and the welding quality cannot be guaranteed.
To address these potential defects, early intervention in the inspection process is necessary. Check the implementation of the construction process of the construction unit according to regulations. Disassemble and inspect as needed, verifying to prevent defects from being overlooked. Furthermore, urge relevant units to implement their main responsibilities, and ensure acceptance inspection and registration are conducted. The inspection process also serves as an opportunity to propagate laws and regulations. Through inspection, production units establish rules and regulations, and the company’s main responsibility for safety and quality is enforced. After conducting data review, equipment disassembly, and inspection, ensure acceptance inspection is completed and equipment technical files are improved. After passing the acceptance inspection, urge users to register the equipment and issue an inspection mark.
In the implementation of the inspection process, these three links are inseparable. Only by thoroughly inspecting each link can construction quality defects be avoided, ultimately ensuring the safety and quality of the equipment.
To further enhance the safety supervision and management of large-scale amusement facilities, the following suggestions are proposed:
1. Raise the entry threshold for amusement facilities manufacturing and installation units, strictly reviewing and checking to control the scale and number of enterprises through the implementation of the manufacturing license system. This will maintain normal production order and improve the quality level of enterprises.
2. For companies that have obtained licenses, effectively control the operation of their products and quality systems through supervision and random inspections of their production and installation processes.
3. Accelerate the formulation of manufacturing and installation, transformation, and major maintenance procedures. Conduct supervision and inspection work promptly to ensure manufacturing (installation) units have rules and evidence to follow. Supervise and urge enterprises to implement main responsibilities, enforce strict self-discipline, and strengthen production (installation) process control.
4. Emphasise the construction of a special inspection culture. Only when manufacturers, installation units, and users consistently “embed the safety awareness of special equipment in their minds” and make safety a habit, can special equipment safety issues be truly addressed.
For more insights on water park safety, visit our detailed guide.