Defibrillators in amusement parks and zoos: rules and best practice

Thrill rides subject the body to acceleration and pressure changes that strain the cardiovascular system, even in visitors who consider themselves healthy. Long queues under the midsummer sun add further strain for older or more fragile visitors in the crowd.

In France, about 50,000 cardiac arrests occur every year, and each minute without defibrillation cuts survival chances by around 10 percent. In a park where the distance between two reception points can exceed five hundred metres, that delay depends as much on where devices are placed as on how fast staff can raise the alarm.

An amusement park or zoo open to the public falls under French rules for venues open to the public, known as ERP (etablissements recevant du public, public-access venues). Law 2018-527 and its implementing decree 2018-1186 require a defibrillator to be installed depending on the venue's category, based on maximum capacity: categories 1 to 3 have been covered since 1 January 2020, category 4 since 2021, and some category 5 venues since 2022.

Given their footfall, most amusement parks and zoos fall into the more demanding categories and should therefore already be equipped. The operator remains responsible for this obligation even when some rides or areas on site are run by third-party operators.

A single defibrillator posted at the main entrance is not enough to cover a park spanning several hectares. The approach is to spread devices around high-traffic areas: the park entrance, the central dining area, the thrill-ride zone, and a gathering point near the most visited enclosures in a zoo.

An on-site first-aid post, staffed by trained personnel and centrally located, usefully adds to this network by hosting an additional device and serving as a fallback point for visitors in difficulty. The rule for any large site stays the same: no point on the visitor route should be more than a few minutes' walk from an accessible defibrillator.

Most areas of an amusement park or zoo stay outdoors all day, exposed to sun, rain and sometimes dust from the pathways. An outdoor wall cabinet, weather-resistant and locked to prevent vandalism without slowing emergency access, suits this setting better than a cabinet designed for an indoor corridor.

Visitors to these sites include a high proportion of children, which means every publicly accessible device needs paediatric pads alongside adult ones. A 5-year warranty and delivery within 2 to 5 working days make it easier to equip a site gradually across what can be a dozen installation points.

Each defibrillator must be signposted according to the models set out in the Order of 29 November 2018 (arrete du 29 novembre 2018, the French signage order), with clear directional signs visible from the main pathways to guide a visitor unfamiliar with the site. Once installed, each device must be registered individually in Geo'DAE, the national database that lets emergency services quickly locate available equipment around any point in the park.

Maintenance remains the operator's responsibility, under article R. 5212-25 of the French Public Health Code (Code de la sante publique). On a site with several scattered devices, a centralised log listing each device's location, last check date and self-test indicator status prevents an isolated unit from going unnoticed for weeks.

Reception staff, ride operators and zookeepers are usually the first on the scene when an incident happens far from the central first-aid post. Training them in life-saving actions and in using the defibrillator nearest their post shortens the time to first defibrillation, well before an internal first-aid team or the fire brigade arrives.

An annual drill simulating an alert from a remote part of the park helps confirm that the estimated travel time matches reality on the ground, and that each team knows how to locate the device closest to their assigned area.