Trampoline parks must follow certain international standards that enable them to operate safely. To a large extent, however, visitors can guarantee their own safety by adhering to safety rules and rules provided by employees.
Trampoline parks must follow certain safety standards
In the past couple of years, trampoline parks have become extremely popular, and their popularity is still on the rise. The visitors, who are mostly young people under the age of 20, are quickly attracted by their interesting offer and fun jumping. Even though trampoline parks are most often referred to as places where you can exercise in a fun way, the question of safety also often appears.
In order to guarantee the safety of visitors and the good operation of trampoline parks, experts have prepared regulative safety standards for trampoline park operators, designers, and manufacturers. These provide owners of trampoline parks with instructions enabling them to build and design parks in a completely safe manner for visitors.
Two main standards
Two more prominent standards of the International Association of Trampoline Parks (IATP) are definitely the European and the American standard for guaranteeing optimal safety of trampoline parks.
- Accessible to members of the association, they are intended to be used for internal trampoline parks.
- They cover basic standards for designing, building, and operating trampoline parks.
- The purpose of these standards is to make the trampoline park industry safe and user-friendly, while proposing guidelines for stakeholders taking part in the industry.
The standards cover all important areas of trampoline parks
These standards cover different rules. All working European trampoline parks must have an appropriate certificate of compliance with the standard, which must not be older than 36 months (3 years). Regular inspections are, of course, necessary; the park owners must usually take care of them themselves.
Both standards define that:
- Trampoline parks should have sufficient insurance cover.
- Each jumper must also sign a declaration of responsibility; if the visitors in question are younger, this declaration must be signed by their parents or their legal guardians.
- Pursuant to the latest version of the standards, plates/posters including information on each individual trampoline must be affixed next to every jumping area.
- Suitable safety nets must be installed, and foam pits must be of a suitable height, width, and size.
- The rules of use must be displayed in visible and accessible places, and all trampoline areas and elements must be reviewed regularly.
However, the standards also deal with employees in the trampoline park – for example:
- One suitably qualified staff member can only supervise a certain number of jumpers.
- Properly trained personnel must be available in order to guarantee the safety of a trampoline park.
- Employees should be appropriately qualified, since they must explain the rules to visitors, show them how to correctly perform exercises, control the overall happening, and provide suitable aid in case of an incident.
- A suitable plan for how to react in the event of injuries must also be put in place.
The design and operation of trampoline parks pursuant to the aforementioned standards enables park owners to advertise their parks as well-designed, well-built, well-operated and, above all, safe areas.
How can we provide additional security measures?
In addition to complying with all standards, you can also take additional measures to ensure the safety of your visitors in the trampoline park. You must bear in mind that safety also depends on the visitors themselves. That is precisely why:
- every visitor must sign a declaration of responsibility,
- and why they must be encouraged to take a look at a safety video and perform warm-up exercises before using the park.
In trampoline parks, we must also prohibit:
- jumping in shoes,
- bringing in unnecessary and potentially harmful objects,
- and bringing food to trampoline areas,
- while also advising against using loose clothes.
Your park employees are crucial when it comes to guaranteeing the safety of the park. It is therefore imperative to only rely on employees who are suitably trained and also ready to tackle a potential incident or injury. If the employees are able to communicate suitable information to visitors on how to correctly use all elements, and if the visitors take this information into consideration, the number of unnecessary accidents or injuries will decrease drastically.
Security is no longer an issue!
Safety is relatively well taken care of when it comes to trampoline parks. They must comply with certain international standards, perform regular inspections, and employ suitably trained or qualified personnel. Of course, the jumpers can do a lot themselves when it comes to their own safety. By complying with all rules and instructions, jumping will surely remain a fun activity, free of unnecessary injuries.
