Bouncy castle risk assessment for events

Inflatables are the attraction most likely to appear in a council's follow-up questions. If you operate them, you'll be asked for a risk assessment at almost every event you attend; if you're an organiser booking one, you need to know what good looks like.

The three things that make inflatables different

Most event hazards are static. Inflatables move, and they fail in three characteristic ways:

• Wind. An inflatable in too much wind becomes a kite with children aboard. The British standard for inflatable play equipment (BS EN 14960) sets the widely used operating limit at 38 km/h — about 24 mph, Beaufort force 5 — and serious incidents in the UK have almost all involved wind or anchorage failures.
• Anchorage. Every anchor point used, stakes at the angle and depth the manufacturer specifies, or equivalent ballast on hard standing. 'Most of the anchor points' is how the incidents start.
• Supervision. Constant, by someone trained on that unit — controlling numbers, separating sizes, stopping the somersaults.

What the operator's risk assessment should cover

• The unit — identity, size, user limits by height/number, and its annual inspection under a recognised scheme (such as PIPA or ADIPS) with the tag or report number.
• Siting — clearance around and above, ground checked for services and debris, away from overhead lines, on the lee side of buildings where possible.
• Anchorage and ballast — what the manufacturer requires and what you actually use, for grass and for hard standing.
• Weather limits — the wind speed at which you stop, how you measure it (a handheld anemometer is cheap), and who makes the call.
• Supervision — who, trained how, controlling what: user numbers, age/size mixing, footwear, glasses, food.
• Power — blower guarded and positioned, cables routed and covered, generator fuelling done cold and away from the public.
• Deflation plan — how users get off quickly if power fails or weather turns.

For organisers: what to demand before you book

Ask every inflatable operator for: current inspection certificate for the specific unit (not the fleet), public liability insurance, the operator's risk assessment, and confirmation of who supervises — some hire is 'operated', some drops the unit and leaves supervision to you. If it's left to you, your volunteers need the briefing, the wind limit and the authority to close it, and your own event risk assessment must cover it.

Write the wind limit into the event plan and give someone an anemometer. Nobody wants to be the person who closes the bouncy castle at a sunny fete — which is exactly why it needs to be a written rule, not a judgement call.

Per-event paperwork is the operator's reality

Councils and bigger event organisers increasingly want a risk assessment specific to their site — not the same PDF with last season's date. That means: this unit, this ground, this weather source, this supervision arrangement. It's twenty minutes of admin per event, multiplied by every event in a summer season.

That's the job EventSafetyPack is being built to do for operators: describe the booking in plain English, get a site-specific draft to review and sign. The same applies to caterers and other recurring vendors.

Common questions

Is a PIPA or ADIPS inspection legally required?

The law requires inflatable play equipment to be safe and properly maintained; an annual inspection under a recognised industry scheme is the standard way operators demonstrate that, and most councils and organisers treat the tag as non-negotiable. No current tag usually means no pitch.

What wind speed is too much for a bouncy castle?

The widely used limit from the British standard is 38 km/h (around 24 mph), including gusts — but the manufacturer's limit for a specific unit can be lower, and it governs. Measure at the castle, not from an app's forecast for the nearest town.

What about the blower and the generator?

The blower should be the one specified for the unit, guarded, connected with the correct sleeve, and positioned where children can't reach it. Generators need dry standing, cable covers on any public route, and refuelling only when cool and clear of the public. Continuous-inflation units deflate in seconds if power fails — which is why the deflation plan and a supervisor who reacts immediately are part of the assessment.

We're a village committee borrowing an inflatable privately — does all this still apply?

The duties scale with the setting: once the public is invited, you're an event with an attraction, and the same questions — inspection, anchorage, wind, supervision, insurance — will be asked by your insurer and landowner. Borrowed and uninspected is a hard position to defend if a child is hurt.