Blog

RCI Recommends COVID-19 Precautionary Measures

We here at RCI want to help you however we can to ensure a healthy and safe experience for your operators and your customers during this unprecedented time. As the number of reported cases for the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to rise across the world, we wanted to provide our RCI family with an update on the following health and safety precautions we should all practice more diligently.

Protect Yourself and Others

  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Avoid handshakes and any other unnecessary physical contact with people.
  • Avoid contact with those who may be sick.
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds at a time.
  • When sneezing, coughing or blowing your nose, use a tissue or be sure to sneeze into the crook of your arm/elbow area instead of your hands.

Guidelines and Safe Practices for Reopening

  • Consider placing marks on the floor to indicate where people should stand in the queue line to keep a safe distance from one another
  • Lower the number of participants on Sky Trail ropes course at one time to promote social distancing
  • Limit the number of participants on a platform to one person at a time to maintain social distancing
  • Require participants to wash their hands prior to getting on the attraction
  • Strongly suggest participants and employees wear masks
  • Harnessing area operators should have access to hand sanitizer so they are able to sanitize between harnessing participants
  • Consider the use of gloves (remember gloves don’t do anything if they aren’t changed between each guest)
  • If you have climbing walls that are directly next to each other, consider only opening every other wall
  • Hang informational posters about social distancing, hygiene, and steps your facility is taking to ensure participant safety and health. See the CDC website for free posters
  • Check with local government for posters, many jurisdictions have made free material available online

Cleaning

  • Clean all frequently touched surfaces on your RCI Adventure product attractions, as well as throughout your facility (handles, floor, countertops, etc)
  • Ensure all high touch areas have been cleaned and disinfected (lanyards, columns, ropes, handholds, etc)
  • Create a schedule to clean harnesses, slinglines, and other equipment
  • The EPA has a list of disinfectants that can be used to fight COVID-19

Cleaning Harnesses, Slinglines and Ropes

  1. Fill a clean tub with warm water.
  2. Add one of the following:
    1. Vinegar: 1/4 cup vinegar with 1 gallon of water (1:1000 ratio)
    2. Mild detergent (such as Simple Green or Dawn dish soap): 1/2 oz. detergent to 5 gallons of water (1:1200 ratio)
  3. Immerse the harness, slingline or rescue rope in the cleaning solution and scrub the soiled areas with a soft cloth or another piece of textile material.
    1. Do NOT use scrubbing tools such as wire brushes as this can damage the equipment.
    2. Do NOT soak the equipment longer than ten minutes.
    3. Do NOT use any harsh chemicals such as bleach or ammonia.
  4. Rinse the equipment thoroughly with fresh water.
  5. Hang the equipment up to dry out of direct sunlight.
  6. Allow equipment to dry completely before storing.
    1. Do NOT force dry or put a harness, slingline or rope in a drying machine.

Additional Resources

Follow Local and Government Regulations

RCI Adventure Products recommendations to not supersede any local, state or federal rules or regulations, please follow all guidelines set forth by your jurisdiction

The Sterilization Station

Adapting for the future has been top of mind when thinking about our clients and we’re here to help adjust for the new normal. Moving forward, The Sterilization Station will address your customers’ and employees’ concerns in keeping your equipment sanitized without the use of chemicals.
 
If you are interested in a device offering peace of mind for safety equipment cleaning after every use, give us a call at (269) 222-1850 today.

Don’t Reopen Without A Plan

Reopening without a plan for your RCI Adventure Products can put even further strain on your new daily operations. We want to remind you to stay ahead of your needs before they become problems.

Read Through the Manual

We advise you to review the Manual to refresh yourself and staff prior to opening. The manual can be found by logging into our client portal and downloading the 2019 Operator Training Outline. We will not be changing any daily inspection/training procedures at this time.

Practice

Meet with your team and work through how they will handle harnessing and loading people onto the course. You can reference our Guidelines and Safe Practice for Reopening for recommendations to consider prior to reopening.

Operator & Trainer Certifications

Make sure your operators and trainers are up to date with their certifications. If inspection or operator training certification have expired, we would like to offer a 90 day extension and allow training of new operators. For information on how to get the extension letter, submit a support ticket or call (269) 222-1850.

Course Inspections

RCI is closely monitoring the travel situation in regards to COVID-19. We are looking into ways to ensure the safety of our inspectors and our clients staff. Once we have found an appropriate solution, we look forward to getting back on the road to safely service our clients. If your inspection is about to expire please reach out to our Client Success team and we will work together to get you the required documentation to open.

Impact On Your Operations

We understand that your personnel and main contacts with RCI Adventure Products may be changing at your facility. If you do have updates to the main contacts for your facility, please notify us by submitting a support ticket or calling (269) 222-1850. Having the most up to date contacts will ensure your facility will get the important safety information you need.

Prepare Your Equipment for Reopening

It is inevitable that you will periodically need new equipment for your RCI attractions to keep your business running smoothly. As you prepare to reopen, we recommend being proactive by going through your safety equipment inventory to ensure everything is in operable condition prior to guests walking through your doors.

If you recently retired any equipment, please let us know so that we can update your records with the correct serial numbers. We are always here to help and would be more than happy to assist you if you have safety equipment that needs repaired too. We will just need to assign an RMA number to your account, and you’ll need to fill out a damaged equipment tag prior to sending those items in.

Please check out the Client Portal to reference our latest equipment catalog. Also, keep in mind that it may take longer than usual to receive items due to high demands from places reopening. We will, as always, do our best to get your equipment to you as quickly as possible. Don’t hesitate to let us know if there is anything we can hep you with!  

Questions

For additional information, check our website on our COVID-19 Precautionary Measures which will continually be updated with the latest information.

As we continue to monitor developments and navigate through these challenging circumstances, we will always recommend putting your health and safety first. Our Training and Inspection Manager is willing to work with you on an individual basis if you choose to postpone your training or inspection appointments. If you have any questions, please submit a support ticket or call (269) 222-1850.

Click to download PDF of RCI COVID-19 Precautionary Measures

Thank you and stay safe!