Jumping into safety: keyfacts of renting bounce houses in USA

 Introduction:

The history of bouncing castles or bouncing houses dates back to 1959 when it was called the “space pillow” which became easily popular across the globe by the 1960s. Ever since the industry has grown and is growing immensely with the evolving designs and engineering backing. With the great ideas coming, the applications of these bounce houses are expected to extend to serve applications such as disaster relief shelters, military training simulations and others. This informative article explains why bounce house rentals are fun and the article shares some mistakes that ask for attention. 

Bounce houses are becoming a staple at parties: 

Children’s birthday parties, town fairs, school events, festivals and every occasion mandates some sort of entertainment for kids so that adults can socialize better. Bounce houses and structures come in various designs and sizes that can be chosen based on the theme and vibe of the party. People find renting them so convenient. Renting them for a single event once or recurring events does the job(entertain the guests) and goes well with the other complex party planning. The rental companies offer several options such as Birthday party rentals, Carnival inflatable rentals, wedding bounce house rentals and so on to entice their customers. Thus the market for these inflatable structures does not indicate any downturn. 

Areas necessitating greater attention to avoid mishappenings:

While renting a bounce house people are tempted to choose less-expensive ones even when for big and commercial events. Commercial bounce houses are built with sturdy materials aiming to prolong their usage which offers better stability and comes with over three years of warranty. Heavy-duty nylon and Polyester Oxford materials are considered good materials for bounce houses. Although both materials require proper reinforcement with heavy PVC or 600D nylon to increase their efficiency, oxford cloth is widely used for its durability and it resists sagging better than nylon material. 

Losing focus and improper maintenance of additional materials such as blower, generator, hand truck, misc items, extension chords etc is another significant blunder. Professionals in the sector handle the cleaning, inspection and maintenance with great care and methodically.

Cleaning and disinfecting the bounce houses and drying them properly unlike misconceived actions such as drying them out in the sun. It doesn’t stop the growth of water pathogens and does nothing against some bacteria. Such actions lead to irreversible damage to bounce houses. 

Proper deflation after usage, dragging the house across the ground and storing them properly are important too. It goes without saying that following all the safety instructions provided by the manufacturer is the most important thing while deflating and storing. 

Safety standards concerning these inflatable play structures:

Soaring demand for inflatable toy structures is also leading to soaring number of accidents. It is depressing that an estimated 10,000 emergency room visits occur due to the accidents associated with bounce play structures every year across the US. 

The American Society for Testing and Materials understands that there are different types of inflatables in the market that come with unique risks which require proper management and measures to mitigate them. 

Although the majority of the incidents are associated with poor supervision and collisions, ASTM has updated their standards to mitigate common risks and some of the updates in the standards include:

ASTM has observed that over one-third of the accidents associated with inflatable structures are due to uncontrollable wind speeds and weather conditions. Therefore the key emphasis is on the designs of the anchoring systems to keep the inflatables grounded. Incorporation of suitable soft matting to prevent the exposure of these anchor heads and therefore prevent easy access by the public. 

ASTM has also mandated installing impactful attenuation materials both at the entrance and exit areas to mitigate slips and falls.

To address another key risk factor, lack of trained supervision the organization has expanded the section dedicated to training the supervising staff. On the other hand, the updation in the standards has helped the market, manufacturers, rental companies, and companies that operate these inflatables and the inspection bodies. 

Conclusion:

As is apparent, entertaining the guests and offering more ways to offer them fun is expensive. Well, Not necessarily! Inflatable structures come in different shapes and are made of varied materials based on where they are installed. Hence it is a great hit in the entertainment business. With multiple options such as water-based inflatables, and availability of affordable range, the market for bounce house rentals is not going to face a dip.