Australian Trampoline Standards
What does this mean really mean?
Trampolines in Australia are always improving and this is due to having the most stringent safety standards in the world. As a nation, we are fortunate not only for the increase in our children’s safety but also for making trampolines that will give better value for money by being made of quality materials. These materials are chosen so that will last better and battle the Australian strong weather conditions (in both extremes, hot or cold) and with higher UV tolerance.
The importance of consumer awareness
The stronger consumer awareness and the greater demand for better quality results in companies improving their trampolines or to move out of the industry. There are also some grey areas currently to this. “Meets Australian Standards” is one of these, and is found to be very misleading to the general public. Currently, all the companies meeting Australian Standards for trampolines have only met 2006 standards, not 2015 standards (dated Jan 2017).
Standards are not mandatory
The standards in 2006 and again now in 2015 are only recommended for suppliers to meet and are not mandatory. The 2015 standards are very tight and tough to meet, being quite an improvement and step up from 2006. However, consumer awareness does drive businesses to work towards the standards providing better quality and safety, even if not going through the whole costly process to attain.
Comparing 2006 with 2015 Standards
In 2006 it was easy to have a trampoline meet 150kg weight capacity. Now that same trampoline will only meet 130kg capacity. Whilst standards are important to keep up with, at Trampoline Web and Warehouse we also value the need to supply a product that supports the vast majority of Australians. This includes providing parts that will bring their existing trampoline in line with the current standards. Current Trampoline Standards
Spare parts to take a non-complying trampoline closer to standards
Our changes to safety padding for trampolines, with inside netting, for example, are a world first. They do make the trampoline much safer with a netting sewn in at the front of the pads and attached to the trampoline mat hooks - with a buttonhole like attachment. This layer of netting prevents little fingers and toes having access to the springs, stops the pads bouncing up or blowing up ensuring that trampoline users with long hair won’t get any long loose bits caught in the springs either.
Complying takes time. We are now certified
We are grateful to the efforts of our factory and design team on reaching certification to 2015 standards, for all our GeeTramp rectangle and round trampolines. The adaption’s and changes we have had to do were more around signage, labelling and our manual, rather than working on the actual trampoline in recent times. In 2016 our ladder rung spacing changed, as did the spacing between the net poles and the trampoline leg where the net pole clamps. The other significant change to our trampolines was the padding design change for additional protection sewn in to prevent access directly to springs from on the trampoline.
Weight testing to Australian standards
Our weight capacity has increased from 120kg to 130kg on the 7x10ft, 8ft - 90kg stayed the same and 10ft 100kg went down from 120kg (with no actual changes to the structure of the trampoline - they are all lower to the ground in frame height so for that reason alone they will always attain a lower capacity than the other higher framed trampolines)
The 12ft, 14ft and 15ft GeeTramps were 150kg capacity but are now 130kg. This drop is in weight capacity is due to Australian Standard taking the 450kg weight test and making it a 650kg test and now divide it by five instead of three.
Proudly, with the increased weight on the bigger rectangle trampolines, we retained the 150kg capacity with a 750kg weight test.
How is a weight test performed
An overhead crane carries a weight over the top of an assembled trampoline and lowers the weight down slowly onto the trampoline mat. The testing facility will only test to a pre-nominated weight, in the case of our trampolines we have nominated either a 650kg or 750kg test weight to be used. The weight test begins when the weight is sitting stable and unaided on the trampoline mat while the frame and springs all remain in position without tearing or failing. The final test is that the mat at the lowest point with the weight still in place is more than 20% from the ground.
If you have any further questions around our trampolines' Australian Standard certification please feel free to message here or call us (03) 5292 1100. To help understand why changes to meet standards can take a couple of years, please read this article - Trampoline design and development considerations.
