From 1991 to 1998 a series of five documents was published by the British Standards Institution covering a comprehensive range of standards relating to amenity and recreational grounds maintenance issues. The Institute of Groundsmanship was represented in the committees that were responsible for preparing these standards.
This series of management articles will look at a range of British Standards that are of particular interest to the sport and leisure industry, especially those involved in turf management.
The full title of the grounds maintenance documents and the year when each came into effect are as follows:
- BS 7370-1:1991 'Grounds maintenance - Part 1: Recommendations for establishing and managing grounds maintenance organizations and for design considerations related to maintenance';
- BS 7370-2:1994 'Grounds maintenance - Part 2: Recommendations for the maintenance of hard areas (excluding sports surfaces)';
- BS 7370-3:1991 'Grounds maintenance - Part 3: Recommendations for maintenance of amenity and functional turf (other than sports turf);
- BS 7370-4:1993 'Grounds maintenance - Part 4: Recommendations for maintenance of soft landscape (other than amenity turf)';
- BS 7370-5:1998 'Grounds maintenance - Part 5: Recommendations for the maintenance of water areas'.
A wealth of information is contained within these standards and they are ideally suited to being used as reference material for inclusion within management plans for recreational and amenity areas, contract documents, non-contract maintenance specifications, teaching resource material, as well as a learning resource for students to assist in training courses and national qualifications.
Often such standards are just referenced within documents by statements such as "in accordance with BS...... etc.", however, if the time is taken to look into the content of many Standards the time spent can be well rewarded.
These articles will provide an outline of the main, but not necessarily all, points within each Standard, making it easier for people to make a judgement as to whether they wish to investigate further.