Bounce House and Inflatable Party Equipment Safety Issues

If you are operating a bounce house rental company, you should read the US Consumer Product Commission's Amusement Ride Safety Bulletin for Inflatable Amusement Rides.

http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/FOIA02/os/amusemnt.PDF

Their recommendations for safe setup and operation of a bounce house should be the standard for all bounce house rental companies.

US Consumer Product Safety Commission: Amusement Ride Related Injuries and Deaths in the United States: 2005 Update

There were 4900 i nflatable ride injuries in 2004, compared with 2500 injuries for non-inflatable mobile amusement rides and 3400 injuries for fixed-site amusement rides. There were four fatalities for inflatable rides from 2002 to 2005.

2002 - A 21-year-old male broke his neck and died while jumping in an inflatable bounce.
2003 - A 15-year-old male fell head first off an inflatable obstacle course slide and died of traumatic head injury four days after the incident.
2004 - An 18-year-old male died after he fell on his head from an inflatable slide.
2005 - A 24-year-old female died after falling from a 28-foot inflatable climbing wall and striking her head on the pavement.

There were a total of 12 fatalities for non-inflatable rides of all types for the years 2002-2004 although the years 2003 and 2004 did not have complete records. The average number of fatalities for this type of ride for the years 1987 to 2002 was 4.4 per year.