European standards in support of European Week of Sports

Every year, the European Week of Sport promotes more active, healthier lifestyles to millions of people in Europe and beyond. All the initiatives in 2023 focus on three important pillars of sport, which also reflect the changes and directions our societies are going towards. These pillars are called ‘the 3 Is’: involvement, inclusion, and innovation.

The European standardization committee CEN/TC 136 ‘Sports playground and other recreational facilities and equipment’ (whose Secretariat is held by DIN) is responsible for standards related to sports or their equipment.

Some examples of its most recent work in different areas are presented below:

Climbing

Currently no standard for autobelay device(s) for recreational use is available. Autobelay device(s) are training tools that allow you to climb roped walls without a human belayer. Instead, you clip into an autobelay device, which connects to the top of the wall.

To address this gap, CEN/TC 136 is currently working on a new standard: prEN 18039 Personal fall protection equipment — autobelay device(s) for recreational use. This European Standard in development will specify requirements, test methods, marking and information to be supplied by the manufacturer for autobelay device(s), intended for recreation and to protect against falls in a climbing structure, which is a movable personal fall protection system. This supports the UN SDG GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

Fitness centres

CEN/TS 17676:2022 provides guidelines and recommendations for the safe operation of fitness centres during any future infectious outbreaks. Its development is designed to have ‘something ready’ to help fitness clubs remain open, but safe for their users and staff.

Furthermore, CEN/TC 136 has also developed parts 1 and 2 of EN17229, on ‘Fitness centres - Requirements for centre amenities and operation’.

This family of standards provides the operational, managerial and safety requirements for fitness clubs to offer users the environment for safe and effective exercise and physical activities.

The European fitness sector has been a huge supporter of the European week of Sport from its first launch in 2015, and in 2022 it organised nearly 4,000 separate events that engaged with more than 700,000 participants. EN17229 is a critical part of the development of the sector to show it is professional and committed to delivering high standards.