EN 913 Gymnastic Equipment - General Safety Requirements and Test Methods

The European standard "EN 913 Gymnastic equipment - General safety requirements and test methods" describes the general safety requirements and test methods for all gymnastics and sports equipment and all equipment for physical education, training and competition purposes that must be inspected by an authorized person and are not specified in other individual standards or legal regulations.

For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply:

• Hazard refers to a potential source of harm.
• Risk is the combination of the probability of harm occurring and the severity of that harm.
• Body mass is the mass of the person or persons using the equipment.
• Static load refers to the load acting on the equipment due to the structure of the equipment, added weights and pre-stressed components.
• The dynamic factor is the factor that takes into account the increase in effective body mass during a dynamic movement.
• The safety factor is the factor that aims to cover uncertainties in the body load and dynamic factor used and does not allow for changes in materials and manufacturing processes.
• Variable load refers to the load resulting from factors other than static and body loads.

The risk assessment is based on the standard “ISO 12100 Safety of machines – General principles for design – Risk assessment and risk reduction”. Twelve hazard categories or hazard sources were considered for gymnastics equipment. These are:

• crushing
• Cutting
• Cutting and tearing
• Entanglement and compression
• Blow
• Stabbing or piercing
• Friction and wear
• Insufficient mechanical strength
• Use of inappropriate materials
• Unwanted movement including slipping
• Inappropriate ergonomic design
• Incorrect or incomplete information

The general safety requirements are described in this standard as follows:

• Materials must be selected and maintained in such a way that the structural integrity of the equipment produced from them is not affected before the next relevant maintenance inspection. The selection and use of materials must comply with the relevant European standards, where applicable. When selecting a material or substance for equipment, consideration must be given to the ultimate disposal of the material or substance, taking into account any possible environmental toxic hazards. Information on the identification and classification of such substances is contained in Directive EC 1272/2008 on the classification, packaging and labelling of hazardous substances and mixtures and Directive EC 1907/2006 on the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (REACH).
• The surface finish shall be free of protruding nails, protruding wire rope terminations or components with pointed or sharp edges. Rough surfaces shall not present any risk of injury. All welds shall be smooth. Protruding bolt threads on any accessible part of the equipment shall be permanently covered (e.g. dome-head nuts). Nuts and bolt heads protruding less than 8 mm shall be permitted on inaccessible parts provided they are free from burrs. Corners, edges and protruding parts protruding more than 8 mm and not protected by adjacent areas not more than 25 mm from the end of the protruding part shall be rounded. The minimum radius of the curve shall be 3 mm. The figure given in the standard shows examples of protection for nuts and bolts and protruding parts which are permitted. Examples of protruding parts which are not permitted are also shown. This requirement is intended solely to prevent injury from unintentional contact with components.
• With regard to gaps and shear/crushing points, there should be no openings, gaps or shear/crushing points which could create a head, neck or finger entrapment hazard during use. Where equipment components can move relative to each other or to the ground, either by design or by deflection or bending under load, no pinch points shall be created by this movement. These requirements are assessed by visual inspection and measurement using the methods specified in the annex to the standard (Annex A). Where the lowest part of the perimeter of an opening is less than 600 mm above ground level, no head or neck entrapment hazard is considered. Where a piece of equipment can be used at different heights or in different directions, all possible heights and directions shall be taken into account.
• When a transport system is used, the equipment should not be likely to tip over when loaded with a weight of at least 75 kg at one end. When a transport system encounters a floor threshold, the mechanism should not fail or fall unintentionally.
• Any floor fixings shall be designed so that they do not protrude above ground level or provide openings greater than or equal to 8 mm in diameter when the equipment is not attached to the floor.
• Unless specified elsewhere in individual equipment standards, verification of equipment stability and durability is accomplished by engineering calculations or testing in accordance with procedures specified in the standard annex (Annex B).
• For balance tests where the normal action produces an unbalanced force in the horizontal direction, for example jumping, the theoretical horizontal test force shall be calculated using the formula given in the standard. For equipment with unfixed body sections, unless specified elsewhere in individual equipment standards, an actual test shall be performed with a theoretical horizontal test force of 65 percent of the theoretical test force calculated according to the formula given in the standard or 50 N, whichever is greater.

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