Bounce House Injuries Jump to 11K Per Year
Bounce house injuries send 30 children to hospital emergency rooms every day, a new study finds. That's nearly 11,000 per year, the Associated Press reports.
If you've been to a child's birthday party recently, you may have seen the ubiquitous inflatable bounce house in the front lawn. Kids can't seem to get enough of them, and parents can't seem to resist renting, or even buying, these dressed-up trampolines.
So to no surprise, researchers found that an increasing number of children are getting hurt by hopping around in bounce houses of all shapes and sizes.
The Center for Injury Research and Policy found that on average about 30 children each day are treated in U.S. emergency rooms for bounce house injuries such as broken bones, sprains, cuts, and concussions, according to the AP. Most of the injuries occur when children fall inside the playhouse by colliding into one another, falling awkwardly, or by falling outside the bounce house itself.
According to the author of the study, there were fewer than 1,000 bounce house injuries in 1995. That number grew 15-fold to nearly 11,000 in 2010, reports the AP. Children five years old and younger seemed to be the most likely to get injured.
While the rise in injuries may be explained by the increased popularity of bounce houses, in some cases injuries may be linked to a fault in the design or manufacture of the product. That's where an experienced products liability lawyer can come in handy.
In other cases, better adult supervision can help avoid potential injury. For example, the study urges parents not to allow too many children into inflatable houses at one time, and not to mix lighter-weight (and younger) children with heavier (and older) children.
If you plan on renting or buying a bounce house for your child's party, you should consider carefully enforcing these safety rules. Otherwise, you could be legally responsible for a child's injury.
Related Resources:
- Bounce house injuries rocket; child hurt every 46 minutes (Los Angeles Times)
- Trampoline Parks Breed Trampoline Injuries (FindLaw's Injured)
- Chicago Trampoline Centers Sued Over Injuries (FindLaw's Injured)