News

Beware the Safety Hazards of Bounce Houses

08/12/2014

Aug. 12--One of the summer staples is the ever-popular bounce house; they can be found at parties, carnivals and fairs throughout the Midstate and rest of the country.

But, studies show that it can be easy for a child to get injured in bounce houses if they don't take the proper precautions when using them.

Susan Rzucidlo, the pediatric trauma manager at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, said adult supervision is key when children are playing in a bounce house.

"Similar age groups (should be) in there at one time," she said. "First is setup, making sure that there are no rocks and that it's safe. If it's rented, look at who the dealer is. And second is adult supervision. ... Without adult supervision, that would be the usual behavior of the child, to want to try to do flips."

Pediatrics published a study of bounce house-related injuries in the United States from 1990 to 2010 and found that about 64,657 children were treated with injuries during those years. In the 20 years the study spanned, there was a significant increase in the number and rate of those injuries, the journal said.

54 percent of those patients were male and the average age of the whole sampling was 7-and-a-half years old. Most of those injuries were fractures, strains or sprains and they occurred in the upper or lower extremities.

In 2010, about 31 children per day across the country were treated in emergency departments with bounce house-related injuries, is about one every 46 minutes nationally, the journal said.

Rzucidlo said in Pennsylvania, the Department of Agriculture regulates public bounce houses under the Amusement Ride Inspection Act, so they should be well cared for. But the ones that can be rented out for private parties may be inspected, but there could be mistakes in the setup if the company isn't paying attention.

"The story of the bounce house floating away that was on the news, that's really (a product of) where the bounce house is at," Rzucidlo said. "Those would not be the usual things you would think of. ... It's really recommended that there should be a heavy-duty stake that is holding it (in the ground). (And) if it's windy, you would make sure the children aren't in it."

In order to stay as safe as possible, she said children and parents need to be aware of the amount of people jumping at one time as well as the ages and sizes of those jumpers. It would be safest, Rzucidlo said, if one child jumped at a time, however she said she doubts that will ever happen, so instead just be careful.

"So for example you wouldn't put a 4-year-old in there with a 10-year-old because a larger child, if they fall into them can cause injuries," she said. "The common injuries again are the kids are bouncing and they fall into each other and they hit their face. So face and teeth, they hit into each other and either knock out a tooth, loosen a tooth, bloody nose or facial injuries. And then the other one when the child falls, they could break an arm, break a leg, when they're in the houses."

Another way for children to remain safe is to not throw flips or other big tricks that can result in neck or spinal injuries and to also not roughhouse with each other while inside.

Rzucidlo said a lot of insurance companies don't cover having a bounce house, much like they don't cover trampolines. So if they are going to be rented, it's a good idea to check on homeowner's insurance as well as what kind the company has.

"Check with your homeowner's insurance, because many of the homeowner's policies won't cover trampolines, so they may not cover bounce houses," Rzucidlo said. "So for example, if a child would be at your home you had a bounce house and they were injured, they may not be covered under your homeowner's policy."