High safety standards at Europa-Park

As Europa-Park is the market leader among German leisure parks there is a feeling of responsibility to set a good example. For this reason, safety is written right at the top of the list. Europa-Park is the first leisure park to be given a safety certificate according to DIN 4112, a special safety audit developed by the "TÜV Süddeutschland?. With more than 3,6 million visitors and over 100 million single rides per year, the safety of each guest is the first priority at Europa-Park. All steps are taken in order to guarantee a smooth course of operations - with almost 100 attractions, this is a very responsible duty.

Safety trainings for employees
Regular and intensive employee trainings are important among the safety measures of the park. These trainings are being realized by external companies, who do the basic instruction, but also on-the-job safety trainings are carried through. These internal safety trainings are repeated annually for each employee, including possible technical modifications.

Daily safety checks are standard at Europa-Park
All rides regularly undergo safety checks that conform to the DIN-Norm - German Industrial Standard. In addition, the operating staff and technical specialists inspect the attractions daily. An especially trained safety engineer carries out  additional inspections.
The supervisory safety engineer appoints special safety inspectors for the different areas. At Europa-Park, there are 16 safety inspectors who can be contacted directly by the employees, who again are skilled and trained to both recognise and identify any malfunctions that may occur.
In cooperation with the TÜV-Süddeutschland (Southern German Technical-Safety Standards Authority) the attractions at Europa-Park are checked and closely inspected at regular intervals. The TÜV acts as advisor for optimum safety right from the planning stage until the attraction is fully functional. In cooperation with the safety engineer, all rides at Europa-Park are checked and double checked before their initial operation. Does the construction correspond to the blue prints? Were the construction works performed accurately? Is the attraction safe to operate? These are just a few of the questions that are continually being asked. Before an attraction is approved, it has to be determined whether a speed limit has to be set, whether the attraction is suitable for children and handicapped persons or whether the use of the attraction should depend on body height or age. At Europa-Park these special requirements are being put into practice for example by placing measuring poles in the entrance areas of the faster attractions. Even for the smaller guests this is easy to understand, so that it is usually accepted if they can't go on a certain ride. 

The capacity of the attractions is impressive: In theory, 40.000 visitors can be transported at peak periods. In order to guarantee maximum safety, all of the attractions are controlled by an automatic warning system, which detects even the slightest malfunction and activates an automatic brake system, which brings the attraction to a safe stop.

Emergency plan: Regular practice alarms are necessary
Regular test alarms in cooperation with external organisations facilitate the teamwork and improve the knowledge of Europa-Park. If an emergency should ever happen, an well thought-out emergency plan comes into operation. At the same time, the park's first aid station and fire department, as well as the DRK (German Red Cross) and the fire brigade of Rust are being alarmed. Any damages that may occur are secured and cleared by the technical services on duty. The employees of Europa-Park have proven numerous times during practice, that the emergency plan works. Behind the scenes and unnoticed from millions of visitors this emergency plan is practised at regular intervals.

"German attractions and leisure parks are considered to be among the safest in the world, because of the regular safety inspections and the strict safety regulations", says Europa-Park's safety engineer. But he and the owners of Europa-Park know, that a case of emergency could always happen. Therefore, the Mack family has invested a considerable amount of money in the safety of Germany"s biggest theme park. Because any price is a reasonable price, when it comes to safety.

Europa-Park is the first leisure park that gets a TÜV safety certificate
Also the "TÜV Süddeutschland? has assured itself of the safety concept of Europa-Park. The certificate, which was given to Europa-Park in 2003, sets standards for the safety of leisure parks.
"Europa-Park convinces with the constancy and logic of its safety concept for attractions?, is the conclusion of Wilhelm Schaaf, head of the certification department for attractions of the TÜV Süddeutschland. The test included the inspection of 40 rides at Europa-Park. During a period of several weeks, the experts have carried out safety checks, for example at hydraulic, electronic and pneumatic plant components. Among other things, they have tested speed and braking effects.