Safety: Do other paintball sites operate without barrel bags?

[John Molloy]

This is just a guess of course but.... a better view? or a slap

Fubar I once asked a site marshall to chrono a site marker after the hit broke skin through my fleece and pball jersey, they had chrono'd 'em when they got 'em and that was it....... and if you are interested that one was running at close to 400 fps

 

[Wadidiz]

Originally posted by Wadidiz
Another off-subject post:

Do you know what you get when you turn a Swedish blonde upside down? (Maybe you know?)

A brunette with bad breath.

I have to admit that the American sites didn't encourage rental groups to chrono their rental guns. But the chronos were out and available.

Steve

 

[FUBAR]

400fps!! God damn! i'll never assume anything about site markers again.


FUBAR

 

[John Molloy]

thats funny man

Fubar never take anything for granted, Ive seen some sites where their idea of maintenence on markers is to swill 'em in a bucket to get the paint off. Not all by any means but to do the job properly last thing after the customers have gone is sometimes a bit too much like hard work.

 

[Wadidiz]

I, along with a couple of other people, have been on the warpath in Sweden in the past few weeks to get safety up to a minimal level. I am being attacked by some of the park owners for staying on this issue.

The reason for this is because I have never seen a paintball park in Sweden use barrel plugs or barrel bags for rental customers (except for the park I ran here a few years back).

I have also seen that it is very common (happens just about every weekend) that alcohol is permitted on premises and is permitted to be used before and during games, usually, but not always, in moderate amounts. I have seen accidents happen and situations develop that seem to be influenced by the alcohol consumption. Fortunately no eyesight has been lost yet because of this.

I have seen very hot rental guns and the results thereof.

And I have seen unplugged/unbagged markers with tanks on them mixed with unmasked people, routinely.

Whaddup with that!

On this forum I see that it happens in the UK also.

Do people who read this understand that if some accidents resulting in lose of eyesight happens anywhere in the EU, that we could lose paintball forever everywhere in the EU?

It may look like I'm an alarmist, but I believe all of us who love our sport must very quickly get a hard on for safety.

I believe that we not only have a right, but a responsibility to get this situation fixed. NOW!

I propose that this forum, the site and the magazine connected with it, do something about it. Perhaps some articles, some safety guidelines and some investigative journalism.

The sport is growing rapidly now and the risk to the public is growing along with it.

We also have serious players who are "too cool" to follow the safety norms, both during practice and at tournaments. I have been with top level pro teams who have their masks totally off while judging and while there are unbagged markers on the field (between games). When I have said something they have basically treated me like an idiot and said something like: "It's our eyes."

What can we do, what will P8ntballer.com do?

What do you people think?

Steve

+46 70 450 4231

 

[Wadidiz]

Safety checklist

Here is a safety checklist I am putting together. I would appreciate any and all feedback on what should be included, excluded or revised.

Here is what I have so far:

FOR RENTAL GROUPS

1. Only competent, sober personnel shall host, instruct and supervise the rental customers and make sure the customers behave in a safe and sportsmanlike manner and follow the safety rules.

2. Customers shall be provided with complete mask systems that are approved for paintball use, are in proper working order and have never had a solid hit in the goggles (according to JT's safety warning). The lenses should be relatively fog-free in order to minimize the customers' tendency to pull them off at the wrong times and must fit properly and comfortably on the customers.

3. All markers shall be plugged or have the muzzles covered by a barrel bag (in the case of electronic or other light-triggered markers) any and all times that the markers have tanks attached to them and are in the presence of unmasked people.

4. All areas where unmasked spectators are allowed to watch games or otherwise be present in the vicinity of paintball games, and all safety zones where people are allowed to be unmasked, shall be properly netted with safe and adequate netting that is high enough to avoid any possibility of paintballs going outside the playing area and striking unmasked people.

5. The consumption of all alcoholic beverages or any other intoxicant shall be expressly forbidden before or during paintball playing. Any customer who is or appears to be intoxicated will be forbidden from participating in the games.

6. There shall be signs that warn of paintball playing and with instructions to put goggles on around playing areas at reasonable (what distances should it be?) intervals.

7. All markers shall be in proper and safe working order and shall have been chronographed so that they do not exceed 300 feet per second. The barrels of the markers shall be kept clean so that the said velocity is not exceeded.

8. All customers shall be properly briefed about the use of their equipment, the safety rules and how to safely play paintball.

9. All propellent tanks shall be approved for the pressures that are applied and shall have a certification that has not expired and are fitted with adequate burst-disks or other overpressure-release systems. All tanks shall be properly maintained and inspected.

10. CO2 tanks shall always be filled using a scale (våg) so as to avoid over-filling. Air systems shall never be overfilled.

11. A chronograph shall be readily available to all personnel to facilitate the control of markers at any time.

12. There shall be a minimum of 2 instructors on the rental fields, with the rental groups at all times. More shall be availbable for larger groups.

13. The rental customers shall have a fun and safe time!

14. No sets of equipment shall be rented out for off-site use without qualified instructors present at all times and following the standards listed above. (The only exception would be for individual rental of pieces of equipment to experienced players, for example for tournaments, or practice.)

15. All fields or courts of play shall be free from any obstacles that would likely cause injury, especially hard objects that protrude into the playing area and that might be fallen upon. All indoor courts shall be maintained in a reasonably non-slippery way, or knee protection shall be provided to the customers.

16. A first-aid kit/station or first-aid kits/stations shall be made available at all times during the playing of paintball, and their availability and location shall be prominently displayed with standard first-aid signs. All personnel shall be informed about the proper procedures for dealing with eventual accidents. There shall always be some kind of communication system (such as mobile telephones, walky-talkies or other types of communication equipment) near the location of the actual playing so as to facilitate quick access to emergency dispatchers (through 112 (EU) or 911 (USA) for example).

________________________________________________

FOR WALK-ONS AND RECREATIONAL GAMES

In addition to all the above standards that should reasonably be applied:

1. A properly functioning chronograph shall be placed out for safe, easy and convenient use by all customers.

2. All markers used shall be chronographed before play.

3. All customers shall be instructed that their markers are subject to chronographing at any time, at the discretion of the park personnel, or at the request of any customer.

4. All paintball playing shall be done under the supervision of and in the presence of park personnel. There shall be at least one park personnel on fields of play at all times. Personnel shall enforce proper safety and sportsmanlike behavior at all times.

5. All markers that have tanks attached shall have their muzzles bagged at all times in goggle-free areas.

6. Any customers who violate the safety rules or behave in an unsportsmanlike way shall be warned once. Thereafter the offending customer will be asked to leave the park. Any customers who have been asked to leave the park 2 times shall be banned from the park. (Customers who have been banned should perhaps be named and/or described to the other paintball parks.)

7. Only markers that have trigger guards, that are semi-automatic only (except for mutually-agreed exceptions to semi-automatic playing), and that are otherwise normally considered safe for tournament use, shall be allowed.
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That's all I can think of for now. We can take tournament safety another time.

What do you think?

Steve
+46 70 450 4231