News: Safety Concerns For Bouncing Houses
(Long Island, N.Y.) Long Islanders have been looking to increase regulation of inflatable houses after children and parents were injured at a June 4th soccer tournament in Oceanside. The incident hurt thirteen people, including a thirty-six-year-old mother who attended the event with her son. Reports stated that she suffered critical head and spinal injuries after three separate bouncing houses became airborne.
Strong winds were a factor at the Oceanside tournament, and an update on the woman’s condition has not been revealed. The company associated with the incident was called Affordable Inflatables & Party Rentals. The Oceanside soccer club hired the company for the tournament, and reports stated that they had used the company before without any issues.
Nonetheless, the weather still managed to overtake the occasion even after the company installed and supervised three inflatable houses. Bouncing houses are often used in backyards, carnivals, and indoor gyms and are rented for birthdays or neighborhood block parties. They have been popular since the nineties, and there has been an increase in their demand in recent years.
Members from the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office are joining staff at the Consumer Product Safety Commission to examine the June 4th incident. It’s often that bouncing houses are sold for private events. Some followers of the case have questioned whether the private sector is prepared to handle the safety concerns of the inflatable houses.
The houses are a popular attraction at fairs and amusement parks, some of which are required by law to inspect their rides. However, certain parks only inspect rides that are mechanical, overlooking the potential risks of rides that are deemed safer. Between the years of 2003 and 2007 there were over thirty-thousand bouncing house injuries that led to emergency room visits.
Of these injuries, four deaths were reported and statistics show that bouncing house hazards are on the rise. While only about five-thousand injuries were reported in 2003, as many as 8,348 were reported for 2007. Such facts have the Labor Department of Safety and Health inspecting the houses and ensuring that the operators are trained and prepared.
Reports stated that only houses more than twenty feet high require inspection, and that the rules apply to attractions that involve slides or wall climbing. Many bouncing house rental companies are not regulated by the state and are known for providing customers with little assistance. Some have claimed that the houses are dropped off, plugged in, and left abandoned by the companies until a phone call alerts them that the party is over.
It was also reported that only nineteen states regulate the bouncing house business. There are dozens of bouncing house rental companies across Long Island, some of which have inspired action from the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety. Bouncing houses need to be anchored with stakes and weights, maintained, and supervised in order to reduce safety concerns.
