A GUIDE TO THE SAFE SET UP AND USE OF Bouncy CASTLES

What are bouncy castles?
Bouncy castles are inflatable castle-like structures filled with air that are often hired or purchased for kids to play on during birthday parties or funfairs. They are usually made of strong PVC or nylon in order to hold the weight of the children jumping on them (not to say that adults cannot get on them of course). Generally, it takes about 30 minutes to set up a bouncy castle depending on the type.

How to set up a bouncy castle
Because these are recreational structures for children, it is important to know how to safely set it up to prevent accidents and unwarranted deflating. It is advisable to get a professional or someone experienced in setting these up, these are some of the key points professional hirers should be taking into account to ensure the safe set up of any inflatable.

1. Consider the weather conditions
It is of upmost importance to check for strong winds in order to prevent situations that are uncontrollable. Extremely strong winds can uproot a bouncy castle and carry it away even with children on it. It is better not to take the risk.

2. Pick a good location
A bouncy castle usually takes up a lot of space and requires anchors to hold it in place. When choosing a location, it is better to go for places like lawns or soil grounds as these can keep the bouncy castle’s stakes rooted in the ground. Once you have decided on the location, the hirer will need to spread a tarpaulin to cover the area. This must be large enough for the bouncy castle, as it serves to separate the soil, grass or dirt from the bouncy castle itself. No one wants their children jumping and falling on a dirty bouncy castle. You should also endeavour to ensure no stones or rocks are can be found on your chosen spot.

3. Unfold the inflatable castle
The good thing about bouncy castles is that they can easily be folded and unfolded since they are inflatables. The next thing to do after choosing the perfect spot is for the hirer to carefully unfold the bouncy castle and have it ready to be inflated.

4. Get the blower ready
Bouncy castles are inflated by either electric or petrol-powered blowers. If the bouncy castle is being set up in your garden, the hirer can easily connect the blower to a power supply using cords. If elsewhere, or where an electric power source is not available, they can also use a generator to power the blower.

5. Connect the blower to inlets and outlets
Each bouncy castle comes with inlets and outlets which allow for the inflow and outflow of air into the structure. Once the blower has been powered up, the hirer will connect the blower to the inlets and ensure it is tightened so no air pumped by the blower escapes. After that, the hirer will need to close all the outlets so that the pumped air can circulate properly throughout the inflatable. However, even though the outlets are closed, there will still be some air that comes out of the outlets. That is why bouncy castles have to be consistently blown up by fans as there is air going in and some going out, although the air going in is relatively more and at a faster rate than the air going out.

6. Inflate the bouncy castle
The moment you have probably been waiting for. It’s time to power the blower and start filling the castle with air. This actually does not take too long; the air will circulate in less than five minutes. The hirer will need to help untangle and further unfold parts that are stuck together so that the pumping process is sped up.

7. Anchor the bouncy castle
Since bouncy castles can easily be carried by the wind, it is necessary to anchor them to the ground using stakes. This is to ensure the castle does not leave the ground at any point as children will be playing on it consistently. It would be terrible for the inflatable to randomly start flying away with children on it! Hence, this is a very important step. The hirer will need to use a hammer to nail the stakes tied with D-rings on the inflatable, they will be sure to check that the stakes are deeply rooted in the ground.

8. Ensure each step was properly done
For any good process to be well carried out, it is necessary to double-check each step. The hirer will go over the previous steps and check that the bouncy castle is correctly and safely set up. It is better to check and rest assured that everything was done well than to be battling with strong winds or dealing with accidents.

9.Safety measures before use of bouncy castles

It may be surprising to find that safely setting up bouncy castles is serious business even though it is for a recreational activity. Following the tragic death of a 7-year old in 2016, there has been a great need for safety measures to be put in place and cross-checked, when setting up inflatables. The late Summer Grant was playing on a bouncy castle which was blown about 300 meters downhill. It was found that the bouncy castle was not properly anchored and the weather conditions were not taken into consideration

First, check that the inflatable comes with the proper documentation and meets the required standard depending on the country. Also, an anemometer should be used to measure the wind speed regularly as no inflatable should be set up in winds above 24 mph. The blower and all other equipment should be safe for use as well.

Each bouncy castle should come with an instruction manual on how to operate it as certain parts may vary depending on the type of inflatable. In addition, this manual should contain information relating to the maximum wind speed for the operation of that particular bouncy castle. Most importantly, all bouncy castles are expected to have at least six anchor points and each anchor must be properly rooted and not removed randomly. Furthermore, there should be no holes or tears.

10.Proper use of bouncy castles

Coupled with the implementation of the above-mentioned safety measures, it is important that the bouncy castle is supervised at all times as nothing is predictable when it comes to children and their toys. Also, the number of children or users should not exceed the maximum capacity outlined in the instruction manual. They should be able to easily get on and off the castle with mats or slides, and not have to jump off the inflatable. The wind conditions should be measured at regular intervals and if at any point the weather becomes unfavourable, the bouncy castle must be deflated. No life is worth risking, especially not children’s. All these measures must be implemented and the bouncy castle used appropriately with the supervision of an adult. A good way to ensure this is to carefully read through and keep a guide like this handy whenever a bouncy castle is to be set up.