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At my current school I am happy to have a dedicated space to vault however there is a cement wall 6 inches away from the left side of the pits. I was constructed well before I came here and had no say in the planning.

What I am looking for is documentation regarding injuries related to similar set ups. With my current budget I can't afford to add padding to this wall and I believe if I present the right info to the administration they would have no choice but to pay for the safety issues.

I would also be interested to here other options. Thank you in advance.

The rules clearly say that any hard and unyielding surfaces around the pit need to be padded. In light of the Brandon White lawsuit that was recently lost, the precedent is set for any school to pretty much automatically lose a lawsuit if there is the slightest hint of negligence on their part.

Look into some good basketball wall padding. You can't just set some random foam over it either, it needs to be properly padded.

The documentation that you need to take to your school authorities is here: http://www.npvca.com/matriarch/MultiPiecePage.asp_Q_PageID_E_17_A_PageName_E_CurriculumRules.

Article 9 defines what's needed to cover hard surfaces around the pit. You are currently breeching this rule. There have been DEATHS by vaulters missing the left side of the pit and hitting a hard surface. I personally once landed on the track to the left of the pit and lost my 2 front teeth, broke my nose, and got a concussion.

Strangely, it doesn't say how far away from the pit, but 6" would certainly be within the range that needs to be covered.

This is an accident waiting to happen!

Kirk

KirkB wrote:Strangely, it doesn't say how far away from the pit, but 6" would certainly be within the range that needs to be covered.

Because a lot of times you have pits that sit right next to tracks. It's not logistically feasible to pad the track. Also, pits are different sizes... a barely legal pit would benefit from more supplemental padding, a monster pit doesn't need as much.

Every facility is different, but most likely every jury would find a school negligent who does not pad a concrete wall that sits right next to a pit, even if it was a huge pit.

Thank you for the advice, my administration has decided to pay for the work that needs to be done and bring our PV area up to code.

Awesome!!!

Thank your lucky stars that they decided to do the upgrade instead of making you quit vaulting all together. Later........Mike