August 10, 2022: No parent expects their child’s life to be in danger when climbing a bouncy castle, but windy days and poor regulations can quickly turn joy into terror.
In the past two decades, researchers found nearly 500 injuries and nearly 30 deaths not only from wind-related bounce house incidents, but also from misconfigurations of the popular toys. In a tragic incident, six children died in Australia at school last year after falling more than 30 feet from a bounce house that was thrown into the air by a sudden gust of wind.
“Year after year, around the world, inflatable houses are blown away by the wind and cause injuries and unforeseen accidents,” says Thomas Gill, PhD, professor of environmental science at the University of Texas at El Paso, who helped with a recent study on wind-related bounce house events. “Most of these incidents probably could have been avoided with careful planning, watching the weather or being more diligent about securing the bounce house to the ground.”
Gill and his colleagues cataloged at least 28 deaths and 479 injuries from more than 130 weather-related incidents worldwide, numbers they say likely underestimate the problem. Between 2000 and 2021, bounce houses were linked to nearly 10,000 emergency room trips in the US alone for injuries such as concussions, broken bones and muscle sprains.
The American Society for Testing and Materialswhich regulates the use of inflatables and bounce houses in the US, advises against the use of bounce houses in winds greater than 25 mph unless they are anchored by a professional engineer.
But winds of 25 mph “are nowhere near the winds required for a severe thunderstorm warning [58 mph] or a high wind warning [40 mph] at the U.S. National Weather Service,” says John Knox, PhD, professor of geography at Franklin College of Arts and Sciences in Athens, GA, who led the research. “Bounce houses can tip over, overturn or take off in the air in mild winds, and often happens during what most people would call ‘fair weather’.”
Most of the injuries, more than 70%, occurred during the passage of cold fronts, dust devils or storm winds. But at least a third of the incidents occurred in winds of less than 20 mph, and some happened during clear skies, Knox says.
Bounce houses should always be anchored to the ground with sandbags or stakes, and always supervised by an adult, according to the researchers.
Only 19 states have regulations that specify what wind speeds are safe for bouncy houses, according to the study. The researchers created a web site to document injuries related to bounce house time, as well as to provide safety tips for the public.
“It’s important for parents to pay close attention to how bounce houses should be used and operated, whether it’s at home for birthday parties, at a school carnival or wherever,” says Knox. “Also, be aware of the weather, there’s no need for bad weather to cause a problem.”
