The Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT) has new information for our membership, partnered associations, and the challenge course industry as a whole regarding the development of an American National Standard for the challenge course field. As some may be aware, ACCT and the Professional Ropes Course Association (PRCA) are both ANSI-Accredited Standards Developers and for the last 3 years have been in deliberation regarding the management and development of one ANSI-approved standard to serve the industry.
Three face to face meetings of the two organizations have been held. The most recent one was on May 22, 2008, where representatives from each association met to examine the options for moving forward. Two options were presented back to each board for consideration. One option was to have a joint standard that was managed by one of the two associations. The other option was to form a new entity whose sole purpose would be to develop standards for the challenge course industry with neither association having a majority control of the new entity.
There have been a number of communications back and forth between the two associations since that meeting. The most recent offer from ACCT included funding for the creation of the neutral entity to manage the standards. The response from the PRCA, which we received just a few days ago, declined this offer, countering with an offer to develop standards under the PRCA, and offering ACCT one seat on a standards committee, along with other organizations.
It appears to ACCT that PRCA is not willing to meet us in the middle and resolve this conflict. As the leader in standards development for our industry since 1994, ACCT believes it has exhausted all reasonable options in regards to resolving the current conflict and has elected to move forward with the development of an American National Standard (ANS) standard under our own ANSI-accredited procedures. We remain open to a collaborative effort with PRCA, should this become a viable option.
ACCT believes that the challenge course community will be best served by validating the standards that are already most commonly in use throughout the industry, both in North America and in other countries, the 7th edition of the ACCT standards. These standards, in part because of the large volume of input from throughout the industry, have already been validated in the field for the last 15 years, allowing programs and vendors to operate using a successful business model. Moving forward with a timely establishment of an ANS will assist in addressing more recent legal and regulatory matters.
ACCT formally invites all interested and materially affected parties to comment on the proposed American National Standard. Often a nominal fee is charged to comment on a given proposed standard. However, because the proposed standard is the culmination of 15 years of development from hundreds of volunteers and advisors, ACCT has elected to provide the proposed standard for comment at no charge. The proposed standard and directions on how to comment will be posted on the ANSI Information portion of the ACCT web site, www.acctinfo.org.
In compliance with ACCT’s ANSI-accredited standards setting procedures, 7 members of the Consensus Group, which is the group that oversees and approves our standards development, have already been appointed. This group will now choose an additional 8 individuals to serve on this body. Anyone interested in serving on ACCT’s Consensus Group is welcome to apply. The Consensus Group will be composed of 15 individuals, with equal representation from Users, Vendors, and General Interest representatives. The application is available through the ACCT website, click on the ANSI information button on the home page. PRCA and its members have been encouraged to submit applications to serve on this body.
For more information on the Consensus Group, ACCT’s standards setting procedures, and the make up of our standards committees, please visit the ANSI Information portion of the ACCT website at www.acctinfo.org.
