1. Circulation, Control, Safety, and Security 12 chapter

2. User Circulation In the early stages of any facility development project, especially the design phase, a great deal of attention focuses on the circulation of users throughout the facility. Whether it is an indoor or an outdoor facility, the ability of users to get from one place to another easily and safely is critical to the efficient use of a facility.

3. Circulation Areas A recreation facility is a comprehensive space that management must coordinate in terms of how users access various areas. Each area of a facility relates to others in design and function, which affects facility management practices. In every indoor or outdoor recreation facility, certain areas have the specific purpose of circulating users throughout the facility. (continued)

4. Circulation Areas (continued) Indoor circulation spaces include hallways, stairways, landings, corridors, pathways, entrances, and lobbies. Exterior circulation areas include roads, sidewalks, trails, and paths. (continued)

5. Circulation Areas (continued)

6. Signage Fundamental to efficient circulation patterns in a recreation facility is a signage system to communicate information that allows ease of movement throughout the facility. Facility signs of varying colors, shapes, and other information create visibility of various destinations. Signage should be consistent throughout the facility through consistent use of colors, fonts, and sizes. (continued)

7. Signage (continued)

8. Comfort for Efficiency and Aesthetics A large part of circulation is creating comfort or satisfaction for people as they move around a facility. Certain applications maximize this effort, such as systems that use designated lines to make waiting time more pleasant for users. Entertainment, including videos or television, murals, paintings, music, and landscaping, can be provided for users while they are moving or waiting.

9. Safety Safety involves sensitivity toward the well- being of facility users and employees. Managers must consider many factors in providing a safe environment: product, equipment, weather, design, and user attitudes and behavior. (continued)

10. Safety (continued) Managers should consider five general points as they provide a safe environment: 1. User age 2. Activity participation 3. Experience level 4. User behavior 5. Environmental conditions in specific areas

11. Precaution Facility precaution is a safety function of recreation facility management. It involves analyzing the existing facility, evaluating the goals and objectives of the agency in terms of the product, and examining product use from user and employee perspectives in order to identify and minimize potentially hazardous situations. (continued)

12. Precaution (continued) Precautionary measures raise awareness of potential risk among employees and users. They involve five components: 1. Leadership 2. Analysis 3. Education 4. Inspection 5. Reporting

13. Leadership Recreation facility managers should establish a precautionary action program that includes a primary person, often called an officer, and an advisory group that could be referred to as a committee to ensure successful delivery of the core product. These two sources serve as a team that accepts responsibility for administration of a facility risk management program.

14. Analysis One of the first steps of the risk management team is to look at what exists in the facility. The following production considerations should be assessed: –Scope of product –Injury potential –Conduct and behavior of users –Level of product activity –Activity instruction and supervision –Hiring procedures –Written guidelines and operation manuals –Preventive techniques –First aid availability –Equipment requirement and use –Training and meetings

15. Education A component of a precautionary program is educating employees and users about existing and potential problems in a recreation facility. This education could include formal training such as presentations on legal terminology, types of liability, standards of care, and evacuation procedures. A secondary goal of a training program is to create a heightened awareness among employees regarding potential liability that could evolve from use of the facility.

16. Inspection It is important to have a system of ongoing inspections where all facets of product delivery are assessed from a risk perspective. The inspection process can include instruments such as checklists that cover every aspect of a facility: –Employees –Equipment –Maintenance schedule –Policies and procedures –Job descriptions –Operational items

17. Reporting The final component of a precautionary system is making sure that any inspections, situations, conditions, and incidents are documented, reported, and stored for future use. These reports need to summarize what conditions exist or potential problems that could occur.

18. Control Control involves the practices that recreation facility managers implement because they are responsible for every person at their recreation facility. Whatever happens within a facility is ultimately the responsibility of management. Control of a facility takes into consideration internal influences and external influences.

19. Internal Influences Internal influences involve ensuring proper use of the facility and its equipment. To accomplish this, certain guidelines, directives, and policies are created.

20. Policies Administrative statements, known as policies, inform users and employees of what they may or may not do as they experience the product. Policies answer questions such as who, when, and what. They may limit certain types of use and establish fees and charges, type of use, supervisory statements, access requirements, capacity limitations, and scheduling requirements.

21. Procedures Statements that help people know how to use a facility and its equipment are called procedures. Procedures create user and employee awareness of how and where they may be able to use the facility as designed. Examples of procedures include directional information, time and place of activities, announcements, and user application requirements.

22. Rules and Regulations Rules are controls that place limits on specific actions of users and employees. A common example is a sport participation rule that limits the age of users who may participate in a certain program. (continued)

23. Rules and Regulations (continued)

24. External Influences Local, state, and federal agencies and professional associations have established principles to protect people in recreation facilities. Recreation facility managers must be sensitive to how these external influences affect their responsibilities. External influences include liabilities, codes, and standards.

25. Liabilities A liability occurs when management had an obligation to protect the user or employee and failed to do so. This failure to exercise some degree of care by a reasonable person can be observed as negligence on the part of management. If negligence occurs, a user may make a claim, which could result in a lawsuit that provides damages equivalent to what the user may have experienced.

26. Codes Codes are legal guidelines or systems that set limitations or control mechanisms for recreation facility usage. They place restrictions and requirements not only on facility development but also on daily operations. Common codes that apply to recreation facilities are fire codes and facility capacity codes that assist in the safe operation of a facility.

27. Standards National associations create standards to provide guidance for the delivery and use of a product. Areas where standards can be observed include designing of spaces and areas, operation of a facility and equipment, ratio of employees to users, temperatures required for certain environmental conditions, weather postponement, types of equipment for a job, level of attention and care to users and employees, and timing in getting specialized work completed.

28. Security Security is having a system in place to protect users and employees as well as to protect facilities and equipment from harm. When discussing security, the two most important aspects to consider are surveillance and access control.

29. Surveillance A surveillance system allows management to keep close watch over space, equipment, and people. Surveillance is a means of protecting a recreation facility with identification checks, gates, or security guards—without creating the discomfort that can occur with access control. (continued)

30. Surveillance (continued) Several monitoring options are available: –Lighting –Surveillance cameras –Surveillance staff –Watchdogs

31. Access Control Access control is a security concept where appropriate steps to influence who and what can enter an area or a facility are enacted. Access control keeps people out of a facility unless deemed appropriate for entry. (continued)

32. Access Control (continued) These are common practices in access control: –Barriers and fences –Identification systems for users and employees –Door control