Amended in Senate April 30, 2013

Amended in Senate April 4, 2013

Senate Bill No. 256

Introduced by Senator Lieu

February 13, 2013

An act to add Part 8.2 (commencing with Section 7940) to Division 5 of the Labor Code, relating to trampoline courts.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 256, as amended, Lieu. Trampoline courts: safety inspection.

Existing law establishes the Permanent Amusement Ride Safety Inspection Program and requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations to propose rules and regulations for adoption by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board relating to permanent amusement ride safety for the protection of the general public. The program exempts certain amusements from its provisions, including trampolines and stationary spring-mounted fixtures.

This bill would establish a state program to inspect trampoline courts, as defined, for the protection of the general public using trampoline courts. The bill would require each owner of a trampoline court to annually submit to the division a certificate of compliance, and to report specified accidents. The bill would make operation of a trampoline court contingent on being insured or bonded in an amount not less than $1,000,000, or self-insured as prescribed, in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the division. The bill would require the division to formulate and propose rules and regulations for adoption by the board regarding trampoline courts, and to adopt rules and regulations necessary to administer the program. The bill would authorize the division to employ qualified safety inspectors, as defined, for purposes of the program and would require the division to certify inspectors as prescribed. The bill would authorize the division to fix and collect fees to cover the reasonable costs of administering the program, and provide for the imposition of civil penalties for violations of the program or rules and regulations adopted to implement the program. The bill would establish the Trampoline Courts Safety Fund and require fees and penalties collected pursuant to these provisions to be deposited in the fund, as specified, and made available upon appropriation by the Legislature.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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 program for the inspection of trampoline courts.

7941.  

As used in this part:

(a) “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.

(b) “Institutional trampoline” means a trampoline intended for
use in a commercial or institutional facility.

(c) “Trampoline court foam pit” means a combination style
dismount pit designed with a rebound device, covered with loose
impact absorbing blocks.

(d) “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.

(e) “Fund” means the Trampoline Courts Safety Fund
established begin delete pursuant to end delete begin insert by end insert Section 7949.

(f) “Qualified safety inspector” means either of the following:

(1) A person who holds a valid professional engineer license
issued by this state or issued by an equivalent licensing body in
another state, and who has been approved by the division as a
qualified safety inspector for permanent amusement rides.

(2) A person who documents to the satisfaction of the division
that he or she meets all of the following requirements:

(A) The person has a minimum of five years’ experience in the
amusement ride field, at least two years of which were involved
in actual amusement ride inspection with a manufacturer,
government agency, amusement park, carnival, or insurance
underwriter.

(B) The person completes not less than 15 hours per year of
continuing education at a school approved by the division, which
education shall include inservice industry or manufacturer updates
and seminars.

(C) The person has completed at least 80 hours of formal
education during the past five years from a school approved by
the division for amusement ride safety. Nondestructive-testing
training, as determined by the division, may be substituted for up
to one-half of the 80 hours of education.

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.

begin insert

(d) Gymnastics clubs or facilities where all of the following are
applicable:

end insert begin insert

(1) The majority of the activities are gymnastics based.

end insert begin insert

(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.

end insert begin insert

(3) The gymnastics club or facility teaches gymnastics skills
and basics through programs that use progression-oriented
training and has supervised training and classes.

end insert begin delete

(d)

end delete

begin insert (e) end insert  Trampoline courts operated at a private event that are not
open to the general public and not subject to a separate admission
charge.

7943.  

(a) The division shall formulate and propose rules and
regulations for adoption by the Occupational Safety and Health
Standards Board for the safe installation, 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 begin delete preventative end delete
begin insert preventive end insert 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 Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board for traveling
amusement rides, to the extent that those rules and regulations are
found to be appropriate.

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 (e) 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.

(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.

(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 report or
cause to be reported to the division immediately 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. 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.

(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.

(c) 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 provides a bond in an
amount not less than one million dollars ($1,000,000), except that
the aggregate liability of the surety under that bond shall not exceed
the face amount of the bond.

(3) 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 or bond shall be obtained from one or
more insurers or sureties licensed by the Department of Insurance
to do business in this state, or by a nonadmitted insurer employed
by a surplus lines broker licensed by the Department of Insurance.

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
American Society for Testing and Materials, as amended or 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 begin insert the end insert 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 begin insert , end insert 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 begin insert , end insert 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
twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) 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 Occupational
Safety and Health Appeals Board in a manner consistent with
Section 6319.