As a good challenge course manager, you want to verify the safety of your course and operational equipment. Before any and every program begins, a visual inspection should be completed. If the safety of any element is in question, that element should not be used for that day's program, and you should contact your vendor immediately. A course manager or other trained staff member should also conduct a quarterly "hands-on" inspection of your course.

Most importantly an annual inspection is also a requirement of some insurance companies, and in the event of any accident, you will be judged according to the practices of your peers, which certainly includes an annual course inspection. ACCT standards require an annual inspection by a qualified challenge course professional such as an ACCT vendor member.

Thorough Inspections with CDI

When you schedule your annual inspection with CDI, we will inspect all of your operational equipment and all low and high challenge course events including the wood structures, metal hardware and the environment surrounding each challenge course element. Additionally, we will do minor repairs such as tightening nuts, adjusting cable tension, and adding serving sleeves for the cost of materials only. If you are aware of other more major repair work that you would like to schedule while we are there, we can come prepared to do that during the same trip. Following the course inspection, you will receive an "initial findings report" that you will be asked to read and sign before the inspector leaves. This serves as temporary written notification of the course and equipment condition and as signed acknowledgement that you are aware of any failed elements or equipment. Finally, you will receive the official inspection report, typically within 2 to 4 weeks.

Your inspection report will include:

• the date on which the inspection was performed
• inspection company and inspector's name
• course installation history
• previous annual inspection history
• list of all elements and equipment inspected and the condition of each
• upcoming repairs that may need to be made
• other suggestions or things to monitor on a continual basis

AT CDI, we rate each item on a pass/fail basis and include suggestions or comments. If an element is not inspected for any reason, the event will be listed on the report with some notification that it was not inspected at that time. If an event is not listed at all, be sure to find out why; it may simply be that, if no one was there to show the inspector the location of the events, he/she simply may not have known it existed! CDI prefers that a contact person be available for such questions during the scheduled inspection day.

For more of your inspection questions answered, download this PDF of the Tower Talk newsletter article, Annual Inspection FAQ's.