Guidelines for assessing the safety of circulating monocable passenger ropeways

the guidelines in Book n. 33 “Guidelines for assessing the safety of circulating monocable passenger ropeways” addresses ropeway operators, manufacturers, inspection bodies, national authorities responsible for ropeways and notified bodies.

Regulation (EU) 2016/424 (ex-Directive 2000/9/EC) on cableway installations designed to carry persons as well as the European standards adopted to further define safety requirements for ropeways carrying passengers , establish a framework that is to ensure high safety standards especially for the passengers transported. This is not the only reference framework for achieving these high safety standards, but it is the one used most frequently and, hence, most tried and tested.

There are ropeways that do not live up to such safety standards. Moreover, there are ropeway installations showing symptoms of fatigue, wear and tear that have never been subject to suitable measures.

These cases raise the question whether minimum measures should be taken to raise the safety levels. In the present Guidelines, OITAF wants to address that question out of the conviction that high safety standards of ropeways are a basic condition for the further development of the industry.

The Guidelines do not cover any evaluation of the dimensioning of the ropeway and its components.

The present Guidelines apply to monocable circulating ropeways.

The Guidelines (Book n. 33) Italian, English, German and French version can be downloaded under:  Technical recommendations in effect