Ensuring safety and quality of fitness and sports services

Statement of the problem. Improving the safety, quality, and competitiveness of fitness and sports services in the Russian market is becoming increasingly important. This is necessary so that they can successfully compete with their foreign counterparts in the field of sports and entertainment. Russian legislation, standards, and other regulations should become key tools for achieving these goals. The purpose of the article is to develop a set of recommendations for ensuring safety, improving the quality and strengthening the competitiveness of fitness and sports services, based on the study of legal and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation, as well as on the analysis of relevant theoretical and methodological approaches. Methodology (materials and methods). The research methodology consists in analyzing the application of the legislation of the Russian Federation and the elements of technical regulation: standardization, metrology and certification, as well as statistical methods for assessing risk factors. A review of the scientific literature on the problem. The articles made it possible to substantiate the importance of ensuring safety and quality in the provision of fitness and sports services [Baranov, 2025; Buletova, 2020; Gizatulina, 2022; Kazarinova, 2024; Kovalenko, 2022; Korostelev, 2021; Malamatov, 2022; Mozhelev, 2021; Mozhelev, 2020; Nikitinsky, 2021; Shchigortsov, 2024; Akoglu, 2022; Eliason et al., 2023; Glebova, Desbordes, 2021; Griban et al., 2020; Nurja et al., 2022; Siedentop, Van der Mars, 2022]. Research results. A comprehensive study of the processes related to providing fitness and sports services was conducted. In the course of this study, all potential risks that may arise when providing both fitness and sports services were identified and systematized (categorized). A classified list of risk factors has been developed, including biological, technical, and organizational and methodological categories. The paper presents systemic approaches and an algorithmic procedure for evaluating, developing and implementing measures aimed at reducing the risk of injury when providing this type of service. Based on the results of the risk factor assessment ranking, the concordance coefficient is calculated, showing a satisfactory agreement of expert opinion. By evaluating the points awarded by experts, the importance of risk factors in rendering fitness and sports services was determined, using the example of a hiking trip, and a diagram of significance of risk factors was constructed. Conclusion. Recommendations on a comprehensive assessment of the compliance of sports facilities with safety requirements, developed on the basis of regulations governing the provision of fitness and sports services, are presented. The key role of the regulatory framework of the Russian Federation, standardization and relevant regulatory documents, as well as statistical methods for assessing risk factors in ensuring the safety, quality and competitiveness of the services provided is determined.