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Climbing equipment

15.7.2019

Neytendastofa (The Consumer Agency) participated in a joint activity with 10 market surveillance authorities in Europe. The main aim of the project was to identify and remove from the market non-complaint and unsafe climbing equipment. The activity also enabled the participating authorities to monitor the operation of the mandatory conformity assessment procedures and the adequacy of the relevant harmonised standards.

The activity focussed on five commonly used categories of equipment: dynamic ropes, sit-harnesses, connectors (carabiners), mountaineering helmets and energy absorbing systems for via ferrata climbing.

A total of 185 models of equipment was sampled in specialised shops, general sports equipment shops and online, from specialist websites or general Internet platforms. The authorities themselves checked the markings, labelling and documents accompanying the equipment, the EC Declaration of conformity and information leaflet -. The equipment was then sent for testing to one of the three test laboratories selected for the project.
The checks on markings and documents revealed a significant number of models placed on the market without any accompanying information. This clearly increases the risk of accidents due to misuse of the equipment. In other cases, certain elements of information were missing from the markings and documents. The economic operators could easily correct such non-conformities.

The testing also revealed a significant proportion of non-compliant or unsafe products. 10% of the ropes tested had insufficient dynamic strength. 16% of the harnesses failed the whole harness static strength test. More than half of the energy absorbing devices failed one or other of the performance tests. 20% of the mountaineering helmets tested showed insufficient energy absorption capacity, insufficient resistance to penetration or both. On the other hand, all of the connectors tested passed the safety-critical strength tests, although several lacked the necessary accompanying information.

The market surveillance authorities analysed the risks associated with the non-conformities discovered during the checks and testing in order to determine appropriate corrective measures. In many cases, the economic operators concerned accepted to bring the defective equipment into conformity or to withdraw it from the market. In cases where this was not possible, the authorities took the necessary compulsory measures to withdraw the unsafe equipment from the market and recall it where appropriate.

For more information about recalled climbing equipment see here.

TIL BAKA