Today's Law As Amended


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SB-256 Trampoline courts: safety inspection.(2013-2014)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.

 Part 8.2 (commencing with Section 7940) is added to Division 5 of the Labor Code, to read:

PART 8.2. Trampoline Courts

7940.
 It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this part to create a state safety program for trampoline courts.
7941.
 As used in this part:
(a) “Fund” means the Trampoline Courts Safety Fund established by Section 7949.
(b) “Institutional trampoline” means a trampoline intended for use in a defined area within a commercial or institutional facility.
(c) “Operator” or “owner” means a person who owns or controls or has the duty to control the operation of a trampoline court. It includes the state and every state agency, and each county, city, district, and all public and quasi-public corporations and public agencies therein.
(d) “Qualified safety inspector” means
a person who holds a valid professional engineer license issued by this state or issued by an equivalent licensing body in another state, who has been approved by the division as a qualified safety inspector for permanent amusement rides, and who has documented to the satisfaction of the division that he or she is qualified to inspect trampoline courts pursuant to requirements adopted by the division pursuant to this part.
(e) “Trampoline” means a rebound device activated by vertical or lateral jumping used in a trampoline court.
(f) “Trampoline court” means a defined area comprised of one or more institutional trampolines, a series of institutional trampolines, a trampoline court foam pit, or a series of trampoline court foam pits. The division shall determine the specific devices that are trampoline courts for the purposes of this part. This determination shall be made to apply equally to all operators of similar or identical facilities and shall be made pursuant to a procedure promulgated by the standards board.
(g) “Trampoline court foam pit” means a combination style dismount pit designed with a rebound device, covered with loose impact absorbing blocks.
7942.
 This part does not apply to any of the following:
(a) Any playground operated by a school or local government, if the playground is an incidental amenity and the operating entity is not primarily engaged in providing amusement, pleasure, thrills, or excitement.
(b) Museums or other institutions principally devoted to the exhibition of products of agriculture, industry, education, science, religion, or the arts.
(c) Skating rinks, arcades, laser or paint ball war games, indoor interactive arcade games, bowling alleys, miniature golf courses, mechanical bulls, inflatable rides, ball crawls, exercise equipment, jet skis, paddle boats, air boats, helicopters, airplanes, parasails, hot air balloons, whether tethered or untethered, theaters, amphitheaters, batting cages, stationary spring-mounted fixtures, rider-propelled merry-go-rounds, games, slide shows, live animal rides, or live animal shows. As used in this section, “stationary spring-mounted fixtures” does not include trampolines.
(d) Gymnastics clubs or facilities where all of the following are applicable:
(1) The majority of the activities are gymnastics based.
(2) The gymnastics club or facility derives the majority of its revenues through supervised educational instruction classes or programs where the student-to-coach/instructor ratio is based on age, skill level, and number of students.
(3) The gymnastics club or facility teaches gymnastics skills and basics through programs that use progression-oriented training and has supervised training and classes.
(e) Trampoline courts operated at a private event that are not open to the general public and not subject to a separate admission charge for the use of the trampoline court.
7943.
 (a) The division shall formulate and propose rules and regulations for adoption by the standards board for the safe installation, construction, repair, maintenance, use, operation, and inspection of all trampoline courts as the division finds necessary for the protection of the general public using trampoline courts. The rules and regulations shall be in addition to the existing applicable safety orders and shall be concerned with engineering force stresses, safety devices, and preventive maintenance. Nothing in this part shall limit the authority of the division to prescribe or enforce general or special safety orders.
(b) It is the Legislature’s intent that the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this part be consistent with those adopted by the standards board for traveling amusement rides, to the extent that those rules and regulations are found to be appropriate. The standards board may consider relevant information in adopting its rules and regulations, including, but not limited to, the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) International Committee F24 Standards on Amusement Rides and Devices.
7944.
 (a) On an annual basis, each owner of a trampoline court shall submit to the division a certificate of compliance on a form prescribed by the division, which shall include the following:
(1) The legal name and address of the owner and his or her representative, if any, and the primary place of business of the owner.
(2) A description of, the name of the manufacturer of, and, if given by the manufacturer, the serial number and model number of, the trampoline court.
(3) A written declaration, executed by a qualified safety inspector, stating that, within the preceding 12-month period, the trampoline court was inspected by the qualified safety inspector and that the trampoline court is in material conformance with the requirements of this section and all applicable rules and regulations adopted by the division and standards board.
(b) The owner of multiple trampoline courts at a single site may submit a single certificate of compliance that provides the information required by subdivision (a) for each trampoline court at that site.
(c) A certificate of compliance shall not be required until one year following the promulgation of any rules or regulations by the division governing the submission of the certificates.
(d) A person shall not operate a trampoline court that has been inspected by a qualified safety inspector or division inspector and found to be unsafe, unless all necessary repairs or modifications, or both, to the devices at the facility have been completed and certified as completed by a qualified safety inspector.
(e) For the purposes of satisfying this section, a qualified safety inspector shall meet the requirements in subdivision (g) of Section 7941 and shall be certified by the division. Each qualified safety inspector shall be recertified every two years following his or her initial certification. A qualified safety inspector may be an in-house, full-time safety inspector of the owner of the trampoline court, an employee or agent of the insurance underwriter or insurance broker of the trampoline court, an employee or agent of the manufacturer of the trampoline court devices, or an independent consultant or contractor.
(f) The owner of a trampoline court shall maintain all of the records necessary to demonstrate that the requirements of this section have been met, including, but not limited to, employee training records, maintenance, repair, and inspection records for each trampoline court, and records of accidents of which the operator has knowledge, resulting from the failure, malfunction, or operation of a device at the trampoline court, requiring medical service other than ordinary first aid, and shall make them available to a division inspector upon request. The owner shall make those records available for inspection by the division during normal business hours at the owner’s permanent place of business. The owner, or representative of the owner, may be present when the division inspects the records. In conjunction with an inspection of records conducted pursuant to this subdivision, the division shall conduct an inspection of the operation of the devices at the trampoline court. The division may consolidate inspections under this section to achieve appropriate efficiencies.
(g) Upon receipt of a certificate of compliance, the division shall notify the owner of the trampoline court or courts for which a certificate is submitted whether the certificate meets all the requirements of this section, and if not, what requirements must still be met.
(h) The division, in addition to the annual inspection performed by the division pursuant to subdivision (f), shall inspect the records for a trampoline court or the devices at the trampoline court, or both, under either of the following circumstances:
(1) The division finds that the certificate of compliance submitted pursuant to this section for the trampoline court is fraudulent.
(2) The division determines, pursuant to regulations it has adopted, that a trampoline court has a disproportionately high incidence of accidents required to be reported pursuant to Section 7945. The division, by regulation, may establish appropriate factors to consider in determining what constitutes a high incidence of accidents.
(i) The division shall conduct its inspections with the least disruption to the normal operation of the trampoline court.
7945.
 (a) Each operator of a trampoline court shall, within 24 hours, report or cause to be reported to the division by telephone each known accident where maintenance, operation, or use of the trampoline court results in a death or serious injury to any person unless the injury does not require medical service other than ordinary first aid.
(b) A division inspector may inspect any trampoline court after the report of an accident to the division. The division may order a cessation of operation of a device if it is determined after inspection to be hazardous or unsafe. Operation shall not resume until these conditions are corrected to the satisfaction of the division. The division shall conduct any reinspection within five working days of receiving written notice that the hazardous or unsafe condition has been corrected.
(c) If a death or serious injury results from the failure, malfunction, or operation of a trampoline court, the equipment or conditions that caused the accident shall be preserved for the purpose of an investigation by the division. The affected portion of the trampoline court shall remain closed until the division determines that defects, if any, have been remedied in accordance with the division’s rules and regulations pursuant to this part and approves the reopening of the affected portion.
(d) Whenever a state, county, or local fire or police agency is called to an accident involving a trampoline court covered by this part where a serious injury or death occurs, the responding agency shall immediately notify the nearest office of the division.
7946.
 (a) A person shall not operate a trampoline court unless, at the time of operation, one of the following is in existence:
(1) The owner of the trampoline court provides an insurance policy in an amount not less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) per occurrence insuring the owner or operator against liability for injury or death to persons arising out of the use of the trampoline court.
(2) The owner of the trampoline court meets a financial test of self-insurance, as prescribed by rules and regulations promulgated by the division, to demonstrate financial responsibility covering liability for injury suffered by patrons using the trampoline court.
(b) The insurance policy shall be obtained from one or more admitted insurers licensed by the Department of Insurance to write liability insurance in this state, as defined in Section 100 of the Insurance Code, or by one or more eligible surplus line insurers, with the insurance procured pursuant to Section 1765.1 of the Insurance Code.
7947.
 Each owner of a trampoline court shall provide training for its employees in the safe operation and maintenance of amusement rides, as required by the standards adopted by the ASTM International Committee F24 Standards, as may be amended from time to time, to the extent that those standards are consistent with the standards adopted by the division pursuant to this part, and the injury prevention program required under Section 6401.7.
7948.
 The division shall adopt rules and regulations necessary for the administration of this part. The division may employ qualified safety inspectors as it determines to be necessary for the purposes of this part.
7949.
 (a) The division may fix and collect all fees necessary to cover the reasonable costs of administering this part. Fees shall be charged to a person or entity receiving the division’s services as provided by this part or by regulations adopted pursuant to this part, including, but not limited to, approvals, determinations, certifications and recertifications, receipt and review of certificates, and inspections. In fixing the amount of these fees, the division may include a reasonable percentage attributable to the general cost of the division for administering this part. Notwithstanding Section 6103 of the Government Code, the division may collect these fees from the state or any county, city, district, or other political subdivision.
(b) (1) The Trampoline Courts Safety Fund is hereby established within the State Treasury. All money in the fund shall be available for the administration of this part, upon appropriation by the Legislature.
(2) All fees collected pursuant to this part shall be deposited into the Trampoline Courts Safety Fees Account, which is hereby established within the fund.
(3) All penalties collected pursuant to this part shall be deposited into the Trampoline Courts Safety Penalties Account, which is hereby established within the fund.
7949.5.
 (a) If the division determines that any owner or operator of a trampoline court subject to this part has willfully or intentionally violated this part or any rule or regulation promulgated under this part, and that violation results in a death or serious injury as specified in Section 7945, the division shall impose on that owner or operator a civil penalty of not less than fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) and not more than seventy thousand dollars ($70,000).
(b) The division shall enforce this part by the issuance of a citation and notice of civil penalty in a manner consistent with Section 6317. Any owner or operator who receives a citation and penalty may appeal the citation and penalty to the appeals board in a manner consistent with Section 6319.