/ by Aldo Avancini /

In the parks and attractions sector, just like in many others, economic recovery after the pandemic requires the professionalism of everyone, including those responsible for checks /

I did my military service a long time ago, but I still remember the strict order we had to pass only in front of armoured vehicles, because while the driver couldn’t see a lot from the front, they could see even less from the side and nothing from the rear. 

I feel that this is a good metaphor for the pandemic we have lived through and are still living through today. It is essential to look ahead, and this is the only thing that can bring success in the short term.

There are those who say that after this storm (hurricane would perhaps be the most appropriate term) the desire for freedom, outdoors and leisure will become irrepressible and will explode in everyone, kids and adults, wherever they live. What can be better than leisure parks to satisfy this urgent need?!

But in the meantime, we still have to suffer (I hope not for long), and there will still be suffering later, because there are unfulfilled purchase orders that due to the pandemic are now being re-proposed, there are complete rides that have not yet been shipped, markets to attack from a different perspective, because we will come out of this experience better and/or worse (hopefully the former) but certainly not the same! And from a design, construction and sales point of view, we Italians have nothing to envy from other more trumpeted competitors!

Looking ahead also means working professionally, designing, investigating, building and testing even more than what is being done today.

I repeat, I am convinced that our Italian manufacturers have nothing to envy from other European manufacturers. But I am equally convinced that Italian authorities also need to collaborate in an important and decisive way: no more fun fairs with 40 rides inspected and verified by a commission in just 4 hours, with one member arriving late due to previous commitments, one who has to leave early (again for other commitments) and another engaged in other matters! And in these 4 hours that commission checks the documentation, the status and the safety levels of each single attraction.

Almost daily, the authorities seize hundreds of thousands of masks without the conformity marking: worthy actions that should be commended. But then walking down the street we can see ‘home made’ masks using a lace from their grandmother’s petticoat (because it is a shame to throw it away) or one of their daughter’s bikini cups (it doesn’t need adjusting, it’s just the right size). Not to mention those given away for free by newspapers, or sold in tobacconists or newsstands… are we sure, I wonder, that even those masks all have the CE marking and therefore comply with EU standards?

Checks on rides and masks: 2 very different examples, but sharing the need for professionalism, which is lacking in these cases, especially among those who carry out the checks.

Taken from Games&Parks Industry May 2021, page 76

Ing. Aldo Avancini /  Proposta Srl / proposta_design@yahoo.it

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