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Between inspections

The checks that are yours, not ours

An annual inspection is one day a year. The rest of it is down to whoever sets the unit up and watches it, and that is where most of the risk actually sits.

Book your annual inspection

Why this page exists

Operators sometimes treat a tested castle as the whole job. It isn't. The test says the unit was sound on the day we looked at it, against BS EN 14960-1:2019. It says nothing about whether it was pegged down properly last Saturday, or whether anybody was watching it.

HSE's guidance on inflatables is clear about where those duties sit, and it sits with the operator. What follows is the short version of it. If you want the full thing, it's on the HSE site under fairgrounds and inflatables, and it is worth twenty minutes of anybody's time.

Anchorage, the part that gets people hurt

Almost every serious inflatable incident in this country has come back to anchorage or wind. These are the figures HSE gives.

  • Six points, minimum

    Every outdoor inflatable needs at least six anchor points, and more if the manufacturer says so.

  • Stake dimensions

    Metal ground stakes at least 380mm long and 16mm wide, with rounded tops and welded rings.

  • Ballast on hard ground

    Where you cannot peg, at least 163kg of ballast per anchor point, or ground bolts rated to 1600N.

  • The 24mph limit

    No inflatable is used in winds above 24mph, which is Force 5 on the Beaufort scale.

  • Measure it, don't guess

    Wind speed comes off an anemometer at regular intervals. A weather app tells you nothing about your field.

  • Nothing improvised

    Tent pegs, sandbags of unknown weight and a rope round a fence post are not anchorage, whatever the day is like.

Every time it goes up

The pre-use checks

These take a couple of minutes and they catch most of what goes wrong.

Check the right blower is attached and the connection tube is done up properly. Walk the unit and look for rips, holes and anything that has come unstitched since last time. Stand back and look at the shape of it, because a wall that sags or a unit that is visibly lopsided is telling you something about the pressure or a seam.

Check the blower fan is clear of grass and debris and that the non-return flap works. Put a manometer on it and compare the reading against what the manufacturer specifies rather than against what it feels like underfoot.

Then, before anybody gets on, kill the power briefly and satisfy yourself the unit stays rigid long enough for people to walk off it.

What we check annually
Pre-use checks

Blower, fabric, shape, pressure, deflation

Supervision

HSE expects constant supervision by at least one suitably trained person for the whole time an inflatable is in use. That means somebody whose job is watching it, not somebody running the barbecue who can see it from where they're standing.

The supervisor manages how many are on at once, keeps big and small users apart, keeps out anybody who has been drinking, and makes sure shoes, glasses and anything sharp are off before people get on.

Records

Keep the daily check written down. It takes seconds, and if something does happen it is the difference between a defensible position and your word against theirs.

Keep the current inspection report with the unit or somewhere you can get at it from your phone, because venues ask. Keep the manufacturer's operating instructions too. If the unit came without them, or the manufacturer has gone, you may need an operations manual putting together for it, and that is worth sorting before an inspection rather than during.

Ask us about it

Midland Play Inspections

Annual inspections, booked round your season

We test bouncy castles, slides, obstacle courses, disco domes, soft play and ball pools to BS EN 14960-1:2019, and we come to you anywhere across the Midlands. One unit or a full fleet, and we work all year round so your kit is tested when it isn't earning.

Tell us what you've got and roughly where it's stored, and you'll get a fixed price and the next free date.

Book an inspection