Wind and Bounce Houses, Safety in Inflatable Bounce House Use

On Monday May 12, 2014 a tragic accident occurred in a bounce house leaving three children injured. The accident occurred 3:20pm on Monday in South Glens Falls, New York (Read More on Article). From reports, it is not apparent how strong the winds were that caused the accident, but it was described as a strong gusts of wind, which would easily be over 25 miles per hour. What concerns us is the lack of safety in the use of this bounce house. The bounce house that was used and that flew away leaving three children injured was a residential Little Tikes brand bounce house that is sold at stores like Target, WalMart, Toy-R-Us, eBay, or Amazon. There are major safety concerns with these residential bounce houses which we would like to address and compare to our commercial bounce houses.

Safety Issues With Residential Bounce Houses

What is the difference between Residential and Commercial Bounce Houses?

Residential bounce houses are sold at big box retail stores, manufactured in China, and do NOT follow the same regulations on safety and operation as the rest of the inflatable amusement industry. That is why these residential bounce houses are sold for nearly 1/2 or 1/4 of the price of commercial bounce houses. Commercial bounce houses are made locally by a few companies like Magic Jump Inc, or overseas by other companies. They follow strict regulations in the amusement industry for safety in design and operation. Residential bounce houses are small, do not use heavy duty vinyl material, do not have many safety features like slide stoppers, and use plastic stakes which is a big violation of safety standards. Commercial bounce houses use high grade heavy duty vinyl, long steel stakes, address all safety concerns, and include detailed owners manuals with every purchase. You can view more comparisons at Magic Jump's Website on Residential vs Commercial Bounce Houses.

As a company that has been in the industry since 1996, we have done thousands of inflatable setups a year with none flying away. We provide rules and safety tips for customers as well as having trained operators doing setups to make sure anchoring is done properly. 

NOTE OF CAUTION TO ALL USERS

If you are using an inflatable and there is high winds present, you MUST immediately evacuate the inflatable and turn it off. It does not matter if the inflatable is anchored down! If there is presence of very high winds it can still make the inflatable flyaway (even when it is staked down to the ground). Safety Rules on commercial bounce houses state this as well and so does our rental terms and agreements. Always provide an attendant to supervise the riders, make sure the attendant is a capable adult who has read all safety rules and is familiar with the product.