Bouncy castles must be included in recreational safety regulations

TWO CHILDREN WERE killed and 20 others, including 18 children, were injured, among whom one child is seriously injured, after strong winds flipped over and carried away an inflatable bouncer in Yucheng county, Central China's Henan province on Sunday. ThePaper.cn comments:

Video clips shot on smartphones capturing the havoc went viral on the internet. Although many have called the tragedy an accident, there have been similar fatal incidents involving bouncy castles in recent years in different places. It seems that the lessons are never learned.

In fact, there are no safety rules or regulations covering the bouncy castles, which can be as large as a big building.

In 1994, the authorities published safety regulations for recreational facilities that have played their due role in ensuring the safety of relevant recreational facilities, which are manufactured, installed and operated according to the comparatively high safety standards.

However, at that time, there were few inflatable bouncers. And the regulation does not mention the popular recreational facility at all. Which means there is almost no threshold for the manufacturing, installing and using of these recreational facilities.

It costs about 4,000 yuan ($595) to buy an inflatable bouncer, on which children play themselves. That a deflated bouncer can be easily transported in a car's trunk makes it a popular means of making money for those eyeing business opportunities in bazaars or rural fairs in the countryside.

The bouncers, which should have been classified as special equipment, are often fixed to the ground simply with ropes and bricks, which are not strong enough anchors for the large balloon-like bouncers in strong winds.

In the accident in Yucheng on Sunday, the wind blew the bouncer instantly nearly 100 meters into the air and then it spiraled across the sky before its operators and the parents could do anything to get the children off it.

It should not take any further loss of life to prompt the business industry and supervisory departments to put the dangerous inflatable bouncers in their sights, and include them in the recreational facility safety regulation.