The gymnasium of many schools is used both by the school itself and by sports clubs or groups that, usually in the afternoon and evening, use it. But who is responsible for maintaining the safety conditions of the structure?
The mixed use of a gym requires the development of precise procedures for the management of safety, which must be clearly agreed by all the parties involved.
Specifically, given the peculiarity of the places and activities taken into consideration, it is necessary to analyze the different roles of the subjects involved, namely:
- The owner of the facility
- The manager
- The user
The owner of the facility
The owner body, for example the Municipality, must guarantee to the manager that all the documentation relating to the legislative compliance of the structure and the relevant plants is present in the documents and can be consulted. By way of example, the certificate of viability of the premises, the reporting and verification of grounding and lightning systems, the Fire Prevention Certificate and so on are cited.
In the case of sports facilities, the legislative reference is the DM 18.3.1996 integrated with the DM 6.6.2005 (Safety rules for the construction and operation of sports facilities)
The manager
The operator, whether public or private, must guarantee compliance with safety both in terms of plant operation and the protection of health and safety in the workplace. In the event that the same manager makes use of subordinate or voluntary workers, he must in any case fulfill the obligations of Legislative Decree 81/08 smi, including a documentary management of the prerequisites relating to the places and equipment as well as the residual risks
The user
The Sports Club, whatever its area of activity or its size, is subject to the application of Legislative Decree 81/08 and therefore must identify and assess the risks associated with the support processes for sporting activities. Merely by way of example, they mention the handling of material, the preparation of sports equipment and the maintenance of equipment, with reference to the specific “workplaces” where sports or other activities take place (administration, secretariat, etc. .).
A practical case
Let us now analyze a practical case that concerns the mixture of skills related to safety if the premises are used by more than one person.
A sports club receives a mandate to manage the sports facility in the afternoon. The same facility is used by a school in the morning.
Inside the gym there are the support poles for a volleyball net used by the sports club in the afternoon, which are however left in place by the same at the end of the day although they are easily removable.
These poles, although suitably protected with special coatings, create an obstacle to the sporting activities carried out by the school classes, as they reduce the free space actually available.
The sports club does not want to remove the support poles of the volleyball network, but the school’s physical education teachers believe they are dangerous for the safety of the pupils.
Who’s right?
The entity that owns the sports hall, in this case the Municipality, when granting the premises of the same to the company, should have requested the risk assessment document (DVR) signed by the legal representative of the sports center.
This document lists and describes all the potential risks that exist in the premises, in consideration of the activities carried out there and the equipment used.
Similarly, before the concession of the premises, the Municipality and the Association should have stipulated an agreement or regulation, which described in a meticulous way the methods of use of the gym, also based on the possible risks deriving from the particular activities considered.
Furthermore, if the volleyball net support poles are judged by the school as dangerous for its sporting activities, it must be shown in the Institute’s Risk Assessment Document (DVR).
In summary, we can state that, if following a risk assessment by the school in which a danger caused by the presence of poles emerges, the Headmaster should communicate this possible risk to the Municipality. The Municipality itself, as mentioned above, following a verification of the management regulation of the building, should provide that the support poles of the network were removed by the sports club at the end of each day.
