Discovery Park Safety Standards

Here in the Discovery Park, other than ensuring all our visitors have a fantastic adventure with us, we are ensuring to keep all matters of safety to the top of our agenda.

Safety is our key focus, for the instructors, office staff, and the participants and visitors. Our instructors are ERCA (European Ropes Course Association) certified, and undergo safety training before being allowed to present an activity to our customers.

Our Staff

Working with children and vulnerable visitors.

Safety in Discovery Park extends beyond the activities, all instructors are Garda Vetted and have completed Basic Awareness Courses (Child Protection) which is renewed every three years. These qualifications safeguard all of our visitors, including those who may be considered vulnerable.

Qualifications

• ERCA Training
• Rescue Procedures
• REC Qualified (Remote Emergency Care – First Aid)
• Manual Handling
• Working at Height
• Off Site Safety Course from the Royal Geographical Society with IBG

Before embarking on an activity, each customer 16 years old and above will need to complete an acknowledgment of risk form. When arriving at an activity our customers will be given a safety talk by our experienced team of outdoor activity instructors and be shown how the equipment is to be used. The team of instructors will be there to guide you and assist when needed. In addition to this, we also have safety signs up at each activity, we ask all our visitors to become familiar with these.

Who built the courses?

Skywalker built several of our adventure courses including Ireland’s longest double Zipline and the Octagon (Advanced Ropes Course 2016) and the newly extended Junior Woodlands Adventure Course (2022). We have an excellent relationship with Coillte who actually own the woodlands we call home.

Board of Directors

We have a voluntary Board of Directors who help to ensure that we adhere to various regulations such as the EN 15567-2 Sports and recreational facilities – Ropes courses – Part 2: Operation Requirements. These operational requirements detail the level of safety to be upheld.

Safety Equipment

We have several pieces of safety equipment such as harnesses, helmets, smart belays and trolleys. These pieces are state of the art. For example, the trolley system we use is known as one of the safest belay systems on the world market, this piece of equipment ensures the youngest of our visitor’s are safe when they are up in our ropes courses, this in turn allows our not so young visitors to relax in knowing our systems are safe for the little ones.

Regular Safety Checks

• Our instructors check each course, and all safety equipment daily before customers are permitted to participate. The instructors who check the courses sign a check sheet and a senior instructor who will take action if anything needs repairing or replacing. Equipment which is not up to standard will be removed from circulation.
• Harnesses also undergo an additional bi-annual inspection through the Exteryo online system.
• Our rescue equipment are assembled and checked daily before activities commence and are unpacked at the end of each. This allows all equipment to be checked confidently every day before use.
• All our braking equipment, such as our TruBlues on our Climbing wall and our Zipstops on our Zipline are also checked on a daily basis followed by a more thorough monthly check. These pieces of equipment must undergo an annual recertification from a recognised Head Rush service centre, not only do these annual services give us piece of mind for all our users, visitors and staff, it also confirms their warranty and safety standard compliance.

Vehicles in the woodland

The only vehicles permitted to drive through our woodlands are Castlecomer Discovery Park vehicles only. We ask all members of the public to respect this as we want all visitors to enjoy their relaxing walk around the woodland without having to worry about traffic on our trails.