The Latest News Regarding Challenge Courses and Climbing Walls
April 2, 2007
"The final regulations pertaining to Challenge Courses and Climbing Wall Facilities have been submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office for publication. As the Department previously stated, our goal has been to promulgate regulations pertaining to Challenge Courses and Climbing Walls in early 2007 with the intent to begin enforcement with the 2007-2008 school year. Consistent with that goal, the new regulations as included in 520 CMR 5.00 et. seq., and specifically 520 CMR 5.14 and 5.15, are expected to be published on April 6, 2007 in the Massachusetts Register, #1075. They may be viewed now at the Department’s website, www.mass.gov/dps
Enforcement of the regulations pertaining to challenge courses and climbing wall facilities will begin on September 1, 2007 to give owners time to come up to speed with the provisions contained within the regs. The intent of this delay in enforcement is to provide adequate time for implementation and training. This explicit provision may be found at 5.14(1)(b) (challenge courses) and 5.15(1)(b) (climbing wall facilities), respectively."
You only need to read the definitions that relate to Challenge Courses found in Section 5.01 and the Challenge Course Regulations found near the end of the document in Section 5.14. Note that Climbing Wall Facilities (see the definition for this term in Section 5.01) have a separate section following the Challenge Course section. If you have a climbing wall as part of your Challenge Course, you are defined as having a Challenge Course for the purpose of the regulations. Please continue to monitor the Department of Public Safety's web site for updates.
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Announcement Update, June 14, 2006
A public hearing will be held on January 19 at 10 am at One Ashburton Place, Boston, MA on the latest draft of the proposed regulations for challenge courses and climbing walls in Massachusetts.
If you wish to see a copy of the proposed regulations, please send me a direct email. We will post them on our website, but it may take several days before they are posted.
Please note that until the new regulations are in effect, climbing walls and challenge courses may continue to operate as they have been without a license or permit from the Department. If you have any questions, please contact Natalie Harmon, Amusement and Tramway Administrator at (617)-727-3200.
Sylvia Dresser --
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Sylvia Dresser Executive
Director, Association for Challenge Course Technology
496 Castlewood Lane Deerfield, IL 60015 USA
1-847-945-0829 Fax 1-847-317-0155
sylvia@acctinfo.org
www.acctinfo.org
***Join us for our annual conference in Boston, MA February 1-4, 2007. Visit www.acctinfo.org for complete information***
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Announcement Update, June 14, 2006
The Department of Public Safety in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts has announced a delay in the implementation of
regulation of challenge courses and climbing walls. The regulations, intended to
be in place by September 1, 2006, have now been pushed back to January 1, 2007.
For the full text of the announcement, go to
http://www.mass.gov/dps/inf_amuse_challenge_%20course%20owners.pdf
Announcement, May 17, 2006
In regard to the Challenge Course regulations that will go in to effect on September 1, 2006, in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety has issued the following announcement:
Please be advised that there will be a meeting of the Amusement Advisory Board on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. to discuss the recently drafted regulations concerning Challenge Courses.
Please note that this draft is the first step towards promulgating the regulations by the target date of September 1, 2006 and this meeting is intended to provide a public forum for comment. Please feel free to pass this draft along to others who you feel may be interested in attending the June 6th meeting. We will also be posting the draft on the Department's website www.mass.gov/dps . The Department will hold at least 1 additional public hearing in the coming months prior to promulgating the regulations for further comment. Thank you.
The meeting will take place at One Ashburton Place, Boston, MA, 02108.
For more information, contact Sylvia Dresser, Executive Director, Association for Challenge Course Technology, 847-945-0829 or Sylvia@acctinfo.org