The attraction safety team at Westlakes Engineering has become the first in the world to achieve accreditation for amusement park inspection from the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS).
The Westlakes Engineering team has achieved the ISO/IEC 17020:2012 accreditation by UKAS for In-Service Inspection of Fairground and Amusement Park Devices. According to UKAS, it provides provides ISO/IEC 17020 accreditation to “organisations performing various types of inspection, surveys and risk assessments”.
The accreditation covers the work of Westlakes in undertaking safety and condition inspections of roller coasters and fairground rides at parks all over the world.
Tom Elsworth of Westlakes Engineering lead the work to gain the UKAS standard.
“We are the first and only inspection body in the world to have gained this accreditation,” he said. “This is testament to our competence and the diligence of our inspections and procedures. We are proud of this achievement and will work hard to ensure that we keep it and maintain it.”
The team, led by Doug Dadswell, has specialised in ride inspection since the 1980s. It currently has live projects across the US, Asia, South Africa and Australia.
Westlakes is currently working on the new Icon roller coaster currently under construction at Blackpool Pleasure Beach by Mack Rides. The company’s team is responsible safety checks on the design and commissioning of the ride, including its structure, dynamics and safety envelope.
Speaking during the construction work, Dadswell said “The team here are not only very keen engineers but are also dedicated coaster enthusiasts and are very much looking forward to riding a coaster they have been involved with.”
