Home › Guides › Fairground Ride Safety at Events: HSG175 & ADIPS

Fairground ride safety at events: HSG175, ADIPS and the organiser's part

Fairground ride safety at an event is split between two main duty-holders. The ride's controller is responsible for the machine: its inspections, its Declaration of Operational Compliance (DOC), its daily checks and the wind speed at which it closes. The organiser is responsible for the site: the layout, the routes, the crowd, the emergency plan, and checking every controller's insurance and DOC before the fair opens. HSE's guidance for both is HSG175.

In short

HSG175, Fairgrounds and amusement parks: Guidance on safe practice (third edition, 2017), is official HSE guidance, not law.
HSG175 says every ride should have a current DOC before the public uses it, valid for no more than 12 months; the legal duty behind it is regular inspection by a competent person.
ADIPS is the main HSE-recognised inspection scheme, but the law requires no particular scheme.
A play inflatable should carry a numbered PIPA tag or an ADIPS declaration of compliance.
HSG175 publishes no distance between rides.

What HSG175 is, and what it is not

HSG175 is free to download from HSE. The third edition (2017) replaced the 2007 edition and was written with the Fairgrounds and Amusement Parks Joint Advisory Committee (FJAC), where HSE sits with the industry's trade associations, among them ADIPS Ltd and the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain, a membership body for travelling showmen.

It is official guidance: following it is not compulsory, but doing so will normally be enough to comply with the law. The law itself is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (statute) and regulations under it, including the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER), which require work equipment such as fairground attractions to be inspected regularly by a competent person. Following HSG175's inspection system, which ends in a DOC, will normally meet that duty (para 81), but the DOC comes from the guidance, not the regulations.

This guide is written for Great Britain. In Northern Ireland the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 applies; HSENI enforces health and safety law at fairgrounds and points readers to HSG175.

It publishes no distance between rides, no insurance sum and no wind speed: the controller identifies the wind speed at which a ride closes, taking account of the manufacturer's instructions (paras 227 and 277).

Event organiser responsibilities for fairground ride safety

HSG175 names several duty-holders, from designers and manufacturers to attendants and inspection bodies (para 3); three matter most here. The controller has overall control of a ride, including its maintenance: usually its owner. The operator is the person the controller puts in charge of running it. The organiser has overall control of the fair or site.

Where the fair is part of a larger event, para 173 says the overall event promoter keeps the legal duty for the whole site but may engage a separate organiser for the fairground.

How far the organiser's duties reach into the rides depends on the deal. Where the public pays each controller directly, the organiser's duties cover the public areas, with limited duties for individual rides; where the public pays the organiser on entry or buys a wristband, the organiser may take on more. HSE says a fairground organiser you contract is treated like any other contractor: take reasonably practicable steps to make sure they are competent and adequately resourced. Para 174 expects the organiser to have authority to act if a controller is failing to protect the public, so write that into the booking.

ADIPS inspection and the Declaration of Operational Compliance

ADIPS, the Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme, is run by ADIPS Ltd on behalf of the Amusement Devices Safety Council and registers the inspection bodies that examine rides. HSG175 describes four inspections. The first three are pre-use, needed before a ride is first used in Great Britain or after a safety-critical modification:

Design review, checking the design specification.
Assessment of conformity to design, confirming the ride was built to it.
Initial test, witnessed by an inspection body.
In-service annual inspection, at least every 12 months, sooner if the inspection body says so.

After the pre-use inspections, and again after each annual inspection, the appointed inspection body issues a DOC, with an expiry date and any conditions, for no longer than 12 months (paras 142 and 146). HSG175 is blunt: "Never operate a device without a valid DOC." (para 224).

ADIPS's online Check a DOC service looks a ride up by the ADIPS ID number on its sticker. Do it before build-up.

ADIPS is not the law. There is no legal obligation to use an inspector from any particular registration scheme (para 82). HSE recognises three industry schemes: ADIPS, the BACTA regime for coin-operated rides within it, and PIPA for play inflatables (para 83). A controller using another inspector may have to show how they judged that inspector's competence.

Inflatables and bouncy castles

HSE's inflatables guidance is specific:

Look for a numbered PIPA tag or an ADIPS declaration of compliance; both can be checked online.
No inflatable should be used in winds above 24 mph (38 km/h), or the manufacturer's lower figure, measured on site with an anemometer rather than a phone app.
Outdoors, use every anchor point (there should be at least six), with metal stakes at least 380 mm long, or at least 163 kg of ballast per point where stakes cannot go in.
Someone trained should supervise it at all times.

What to ask for, and what to check

Before the fair:

A current DOC for every ride, checked online, with the relevant reports in its operations manual (para 187).
Current insurance for every controller (para 187). HSG175 names no sum; your landowner, insurer or council may.
A PIPA tag number or ADIPS declaration for each play inflatable.
Each ride's closing wind speed, and how wind will be measured on site.
Each controller's input to your site risk assessment (para 225).

Game stalls such as hoopla need no ride inspection, only periodic inspection of their electrical equipment; food stalls also bring food safety law and gas safety (HSG175 Table 2).

On the day:

Each ride has a written daily check, including a full operating cycle, before the public is let on (paras 215 to 217).
Your own checks before admission: the alarm, clear and signed escape routes, the ground, fire-fighting equipment (para 190).
While open: watch for overcrowding and keep emergency routes clear (para 191).

Planning the layout: spacing, crowds, power lines and ground

Para 179 asks for risk assessments covering overhead and buried services, the layout and spacing of rides, electrical distribution, vehicle access and emergencies; para 181 asks for a layout plan showing rides, emergency access, routes, hydrants and assembly points. Our guide to the event site plan and the Safety Advisory Group covers that plan.

How far apart should rides be?

HSG175 gives no figure, and we know of no national guidance that does. Para 182 asks for distances between attractions and walls or fences, barriers and waiting areas included, that account for each ride's motion and passenger clearance envelope, emergency access and egress, and keeping the public from moving parts. Some landowners set their own figure: Cardiff's Bute Park event guide asks for at least 6 m between the moving parts of adjacent rides. If yours does, draw to it.

Crowds and queues

Para 182 also asks that nothing channels the public into dangerous overcrowding in an emergency, that popular rides may need extra space, and that emergency vehicles can reach the site and its hydrants while the public evacuates. HSG175 gives no figure for queuing or watching space; our guide to event capacity and occupant density covers arena capacity.

Overhead power lines

Ask the local electricity company about lines on the site (para 184), and read HSE's GS6, Avoiding danger from overhead power lines (fourth edition, 2013). GS6 asks you to manage the risks of any work within 10 m, measured at ground level horizontally from below the nearest wire (para 11), and sets a safety zone 6 m either side, wider on the line owner's advice or to allow for a jib or other moving part (para 19). It names tents and marquees among the structures at risk, and leaves the separation between a line and a structure to the line owner (paras 26 and 27). We read a swinging ride as the moving-part case, so ask early.

Ground and build-up

Each ride must stand on ground that can bear its load (para 226), and many large emergency vehicles cannot use grass (para 182). At a street fair or other tight site, agree arrival and departure times with the council, police or landlord (para 186).

A worked example

A two-day agricultural show books a fair for one corner of its showground: a waltzer, dodgems, a big wheel, two juvenile rides, a bouncy castle and eight side stalls. A wood-pole power line runs along one hedge.

The event promoter is the show society, which keeps the duty for the whole showground (para 173) and engages a fair organiser with authority to stop a ride (para 174).
Three weeks out, it checks five DOCs by ADIPS ID, the castle's PIPA tag and every controller's insurance. One DOC expires before the show, so the renewal is chased.
On the plan, the big wheel goes well beyond 10 m of the line, the network operator is asked about the rest, and a vehicle route stays open to the fair.
On the day, wind is measured at the castle, and every daily check is written up before the gates open.

Where Airship Event Designer fits

Airship Event Designer (the Events mode of Airship Site Designer) checks the layout around a ride, never the ride. It reports ride footprints that overlap each other, a structure, a fence or the boundary; entrances opening onto another ride or a vehicle route; rides built up with the public on site; generator capacity against the rides' own kVA; distance to OpenStreetMap overhead lines against GS6's 6 m and 10 m; and a ride on the emergency route. It has no separation distance of its own, because HSG175 publishes none, though a rule pack you load can add yours. Its Event Safety Plan appendix prints a DOC reminder, but no finding says whether a ride's DOC is held or current, or states a wind limit. Its findings are inputs to your event safety plan; the Safety Advisory Group, the licensing authority and the duty-holders decide. The help page on ride checks lists what each check measures, and our guide to the Purple Guide covers the wider event.

Event Designer is in beta on Pro and above, switched on per account: see what it does and how to ask for access.

Questions organisers ask

Is HSG175 a legal requirement?

No. It is official HSE guidance; following it is not compulsory, but will normally be enough to comply with the law.

Do fairground rides need an ADIPS certificate?

HSG175, HSE's guidance, says no ride should be used without a current Declaration of Operational Compliance (DOC). The legal duty behind it is regular inspection by a competent person. ADIPS is the main HSE-recognised scheme, but the law requires no particular scheme.

How long is a Declaration of Operational Compliance valid?

No longer than 12 months, and less if the inspection body sets an earlier expiry date.

Who is responsible for fairground ride safety at an event?

The controller is responsible for the ride and the organiser for the site; where the fair is part of a larger event, the event promoter keeps the duty for the whole site.

How far apart should fairground rides be?

HSG175 publishes no distance; it asks for spacing that accounts for each ride's movement envelope, barriers, waiting areas and emergency access.

What wind speed should a bouncy castle stop at?

HSE says 24 mph (38 km/h), or the manufacturer's lower limit, measured on site with an anemometer.

Do fairground rides need a premises licence?

In England and Wales, not for the rides: they are not regulated entertainment under the Licensing Act 2003. Selling alcohol, late-night refreshment and some regulated entertainment laid on alongside, such as live music on a stage, can be licensable, and the council may set a fair's hours by byelaw where it has made one. In Scotland a public entertainment licence may be needed where the council has resolved to license that kind of place. This answer does not cover Northern Ireland.

Sources

This guide describes guidance and law as read on 20 October 2026 and is not legal advice: the Safety Advisory Group, the licensing authority and the duty-holders make the decisions.

Last reviewed: 20 October 2026.

Plan your next event site with Airship Event Designer

Event Designer, the Events mode of Airship Site Designer, sizes the event from the attendance, lays out the site and checks it against UK event guidance, with every figure showing its source. In beta on Pro and above, switched on per account. Its findings are inputs to your event safety plan: the Safety Advisory Group, the licensing authority and the duty-holders decide.

See what Event Designer does → Ask for beta access