This week, the Attraction Safety Team at Westlakes Engineering were the first inspection body in the world to achieve accreditation for the ISO/IEC17020:2012 by UKAS for In-Service Inspection of Fairground and Amusement Park Devices.
The accreditation covers the work of the team in undertaking safety and condition inspections of rollercoasters and fairground rides at parks all over the world.
“This is testament to our competence and the diligence of our inspections and procedures.” said Tom Elsworth of Westlakes Engineering. “We are proud of this achievement and will work hard to ensure that we keep it and maintain it. That comes through a continued strive for improvement in our training and abilities, and innovation in the way we inspect, report and prepare our inspections.”
The team, led by Doug Dadswell, has been specialising in this line of work since its formation at Allott & Lomax in Sale in the 1980s. Westlakes was founded in 2004 in West Cumbria, working mainly at the Sellafield nuclear plant, then spread nationwide doing property work after opening its Manchester Office in 2009. The “Rides” team have given Westlakes a global profile with live projects across the USA, Asia, South Africa, and Australia.
Westlakes are involved in another project this year, with Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s new “Icon” ride opening in spring 2018. The attraction is a launch coaster, the first new ride in Blackpool for a number of years, and will interact with and twist through five existing rides and two tunnels on the park.
The ride is being manufactured by Mack Rides in Waldkirch, Germany and feautres laser beam technology. Westlakes are responsible for safety checks on the design and commissioning of the ride, including its structure, dynamics and safety envelope.
