New ACCT Standards: What's Changed?

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Standards change over from time to time to reflect developments in the industry. The ANSI/ACCT 03-2019 Challenge courses and canopy/zip line tours standards (revision of ANSI/ACCT 03-2016) were published this past August and replace the 2016 edition. Available both in digital and print versions from the Association for Challenge Course Technology www.acctinfo.org, the booklet is yellow rather than green. As challenge course managers dive into planning for the 2020 season, here’s a short list of highlights to be aware of.  

If you receive the print rather than digital version, it will seem thinner. That’s because the appendices have been removed and are now available on the members section of the website. This change is intended to eliminate confusion about what is and what is not an ANSI-accredited standard. There is lots of other great content on the ACCT web-site including white papers (aka technical reports) so if you’re not a member, now is a great time to join.

Most of the changes are in the Operations Chapter and most of those modifications are around how the content is organized. You’ll see the phrase “this item left intentionally blank” in several locations indicating that information that once was there has likely moved. This approach ensured that there was no change to the numbering of unaltered standards.
The primary change appears in a chart on the first page. The standards overtly recognize three distinct delivery approaches:
  1. facilitated – mostly used by “traditional” challenge course programs,
  2. guided – mostly used by zip line tours, and
  3. self-guided – mostly used by aerial adventure parks.

These delivery approaches outline in broad terms the type of experience participants will encounter and the responsibilities of staff members in that approach.
The second change reflects the growth in the varieties of lanyards now available. The standards identify five categories of Personal Safety Systems:

  1. Non-auto-locking – traditional lanyards that use screw-gate carabiners for connections
  2. Auto-locking – lanyards that use snap hooks or twist-locking carabiners for connections
  3. Interconnected – lanyards that communicate with each other so that when one connector is open the other stays closed. Examples in this category include the original CLiC-iTs and Edelrid’s SmartBelay lanyards and use a mechanical (rather than human) system to prevent double-unclipping.
  4. External Keyed – lanyards that communicate with each other and with the anchorage. This category prevents participants from clipping to the wrong thing on a course. Examples in this category include CLiC-iTs with a C-Zam system, the Bornack SSB with tweezle, and the ISC Keeloc SmartSnap.
  5. Consistent –  the connectors in the lanyards used in a continuous “belay” system do not require the participant to perform transfers between elements because the bypass systems enable them to navigate around trees or poles. Examples in this category include the Kong ZAZA2, Saferoller from Kanopeo and Vertical Trek Innovations system.

These categories of personal safety systems are cross-listed against four minimum supervision strategies based on age and category of personal safety system being used. Collective safety systems such as railings, fences, and safety nets that require no participant input are also listed.

These updated standards mean that it will be easier for your operation to apply the ACCT standards regardless of whether you are using one, two, or three of the delivery approaches. Lots has happened since the last set of standards were published and keeping up with developments is more important than ever. Get your copy of the new ANSI/ACCT 03-2019 standards today.