From a safety perspective, and to prolong its economic life, the regular maintenance of all sports hall, P.E. and gymnastics equipment is essential.

British Standard 1892 Part 1:1986 states that “It is important that all physical education apparatus is maintained in a first class, fully safe condition. General maintenance should take place regularly. An inspection should be carried out at least once a year.”

We recommend that all sports halls, P.E. and gymnastics equipment is serviced at least annually by properly trained and experienced Continental engineers.

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2) WHO NEEDS MAINTENANCE ?

Anyone who is providing sports hall, P.E. and gymnastics equipment for use by members of the public should have their equipment maintained. This is to ensure peace of mind that your customers or pupils will not be injured due to worn or defective equipment and, unfortunately with today’s compensation culture, the onus is on you to demonstrate you have done everything you can to ensure the equipment is safe to use and that you maintain adequate records that all the preventative maintenance has been carried out by trained personnel.

This would include: schools, sports and leisure centres, gymnastic clubs and centres, trampoline clubs and all other establishments using physical education and sports equipment such as prisons, army bases, hospitals etc.

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3) WHY DO I NEED MAINTENANCE ?

Regular preventative maintenance will optimise the availability of your equipment. Any downtime due to damaged equipment is costly in terms of lost bookings and cancelled classes. Regular, scheduled maintenance helps avoid unforeseen downtime.

The overall life of your equipment will be increased, therefore reducing your total cost of ownership.

Detailed servicing helps spot problems and damage before it develops into a problem which may endanger user-safety. Safety is your responsibility.

To comply with British Standards: BS 1892 Part 1:1986 states that “It is important that all physical education apparatus is maintained in a first class, fully safe condition. General maintenance should take place regularly. An inspection should be carried out at least once a year.”

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4) WHY CHOOSE CONTINENTAL ?

Continental have been undertaking this type of work in the UK for the past 40 years, which gives you access to a knowledgebase and pool of experience that is unavailable from any other supplier.

We only employ fully trained service personnel who operate from our nationwide fleet of service vehicles.

Our vehicles are equipped to carry out most maintenance and repairs on site, with only more substantial remedial work requiring equipment to be sent back to our factory.

Continental is a manufacturer of equipment, and our maintenance team therefore have access to this manufacturing support capability for more significant works to be carried out.

We maintain any make of equipment. As well as our own manufactured equipment, we maintain and service equipment provided by any supplier. We therefore provide you with a comprehensive, one-stop-shop solution to your sports equipment maintenance problems.

Our reputation speaks for itself. Our service contracts are renewed year after year and many have been repeatedly won by Continental for over 30 years. This is due to the quality of service that our customers expect and receive.

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5) WHAT EQUIPMENT IS COVERED ?

We maintain any make of equipment. As well as our own manufactured equipment, we maintain and service equipment provided by any supplier. We therefore provide you with a comprehensive, one-stop-shop solution to your sports equipment maintenance problems.

We can maintain or repair all indoor sports equipment in your sports hall, gymnasium or school hall.

The only items we cannot repair are the electronic or computer controls of computer controlled fitness machines, weight or aerobic training machines. We can maintain the mechanical aspects of such machines, but the electronic circuitry must be serviced by the machines’ suppliers.

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6) WHAT WORK DO YOU DO ON A VISIT ?

We carry out as much work as possible at the time of the visit. We and you want to avoid the inconvenience and additional administrative work involved in organising a second visit if it can be avoided. Unfortunately secondary visits are sometimes required, possibly because some equipment requires repair at our factory, or a repair may require an infrequently used spare part which is not normally carried by our maintenance teams.

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7) WHAT WORK CAN’T YOU DO ON A VISIT ?

We carry a wide range of frequently required spares parts, but if we do not have a required part at the time of the visit then we can either take the equipment back to the factory for repair and then return it at a later date, or leave you with the equipment and return with the part at a later date. The decision is normally based on whether the equipment is usable and what would be the lowest cost, fastest method of repair. To avoid these situations it is important to specify on your request for a maintenance visit any spares that you know will be required.

Certain work including some welding cannot be undertaken on-site and will necessitate taking the equipment back to our factory for repair (some welding can be undertaken on site, so please include details of any welding you know needs to be undertaken on your written request for a visit).

Work on trampolines that requires re-alignment of the trampoline frame must be undertaken back at the factory. IF YOU HAVE A TRAMPOLINE THAT YOU KNOW HAS A BENT END LEAF OR ANOTHER PROBLEM THAT WILL REQUIRE RE-ALIGNMENT, PLEASE SPECIFY THIS ON YOUR REQUEST FOR A MAINTENANCE VISIT – this will enable us to bring a van that will accommodate a trampoline so that we can repair and return it more quickly.

If there are any significant amounts of remedial work that our maintenance engineers recommend are carried out and that require removal of your equipment or significant cost, our engineers will ask you to call us to discuss those with you whilst they are still on site, and subject to your requirements they will take away the equipment at that time or leave the equipment with you pending your decision. We will then send you a written quotation for the work that we recommend is carried out and then once we receive a formal instruction from you, we will carry out that work and return your equipment.

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8) HOW SOON CAN YOU VISIT ME ?

For preventative maintenance we normally arrange an annual visit approximately on the anniversary of our previous visit - we will contact you approximately two months before the anniversary of our last visit to arrange another visit. If you are under a local authority contract, the period during which we visit you is determined by the authority.

If you request us to visit for the first time or for a one-off visit then depending on your location we can often visit you within a week, but subject to where our maintenance teams are working it may be up to four weeks.

In order to schedule your visit with a maintenance team we require a written order. On your order you should request when you would like us to visit (or equally any times that we would not be able to visit). Click here to see the order process.

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9) HOW DO I ARRANGE A VISIT ?

We require a request in writing on our official order form. This is the only means of ordering which we will accept. If you wish to use your own order form, then please submit it along with a signed copy of our form.

You can download our maintenance order form and complete it online here:

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10) WHAT DOES IT COST ?

We charge a call out fee per site (we refer to this as an area charge) which is dependent on which area of the country the site is in.

For a full list of areas and the relevant area charge please click here

There is then a charge for time on site and any materials used. Time is charged at a rate of £38.50 per man hour on site (price valid until 31 March 2011), and there would normally be two engineers on site for each visit.

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11) WHAT WILL I RECEIVE FOR MY HEALTH AND SAFETY RECORDS ?

At the end of the visit our engineers will leave you with a hand written record of all the work that they have carried out on each piece of equipment. This is not merely a tick box on a standard form, but a detailed explanation of what was found, what work was carried out and a statement that the equipment is left in a safe state, or otherwise what remedial work needs to be carried out to bring it into a safe state. This record is an essential part of your health and safety record.

When our engineers return to the factory, we will produce a written quotation highlighting any additional work that our engineers have recommended is carried out. This quotation will be sent out along with the invoice for the work carried out on the visit and a copy of the work ticket for your accounts payable personnel.

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12) AM I COVERED BY A LOCAL AUTHORITY CONTRACT ?

We currently have contracts with many local authorities:

Most of our contracts cover local authority schools (primary and secondary) and in certain areas also leisure centres. If you are in one of the areas covered by a contract, please contact your leisure services or purchasing department at the council to determine how to ensure your school or leisure centre is included on the list. We are unable to add you to the list without an instruction from the local authority.

For the second visit under a local authority contract, you will pay the reduced contract rate, but the first visit will be on a time and materials basis.

If your local authority does not offer a group contract, we can still provide maintenance to your organisation on an annual basis – please see the details on how to request a maintenance visit here.

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13) I WOULD LIKE TO SET UP A MAINTENANCE CONTRACT. HOW DO I ARRANGE THIS ?

You do not need a formal contract. If you would like us to visit you annually, please request a service or maintenance visit using the method stated here and ask that we schedule you in for annual visits. We will then contact you approximately one month prior to the anniversary of the visit and arrange a repeat visit.

The discounted group contract arrangements that we have for local authorities are normally for between a minimum of 50 individual schools and anything up to 600 schools or more. If you are a local authority or represent a group of at least 50 sites and would like to set up a discounted bulk contract arrangement for the servicing of all of your equipment then please contact us.

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14) I HAVE AN EMERGENCY SITUATION. WHAT SHOULD I DO ?

These situations could include indoor cricket nets jamming in the middle of a sports hall or retractable basketball goals sticking in the down position, preventing use of your facility. Please contact us as normal in writing with the details we require (see here for information), and include details that the situation is urgent and that you are requesting a call out as soon as possible. We will do what we can to visit you immediately, but this is subject to the location of your nearest maintenance team.

WE CANNOT RESPOND TO YOUR REQUEST UNTIL WE HAVE RECEIVED A WRITTEN ORDER – SO PLEASE FAX IT TO US ON 01484 539 148 REQUESTING US TO CALL YOU IMMEDIATELY.

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15) WHAT ARE THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLICABLE TO THIS SERVICE?

It is important that you understand what we do and don't do when we undertake maintenance work for you. It is also vital that you understand what our responsibilities are and what your responsiblities are. All our maintenance work is undertaken in accordance with our Terms and Conditions of Equipment Maintenance. It is therefore essential that you read, understand and agree to those terms before placing your order. They are available for download for your records here, or you can view them online here.

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