The management of A&S Playzone invited its attendant staff into their newly opened training room for a night of reviewing safety policies and regulations. The evening began with the owner of A&S Playzone, Tammy Chapman, describing specific features and requirements of the over fifty inflatables that A&S has to offer. The items fall into many categories, such as bounce houses (or moonwalks), wet and dry slides, and obstacle courses.
Tammy first elaborated on safety policies designed by A&S itself, which strictly adhere to and exceed the state requirements and recommendations. Some of the rules involve common sense, such as no flips in moonwalks, and no shoes, glasses or jewelry. Attendants were taught these rules, as well as how to handle roughhousing in the inflatables. The instruction included finite warnings that only a seasoned safety expert would know, such as to ensure that older kids were warned not to jump or push others into the mesh walls surrounding all bounce houses, to remove the risk of an individual tearing through the mesh. Continuing along the theme of moonwalk safety, the attendants in training were shown a fully inflated 15 x 15 moonwalk.
As the trainees gathered around one of our more popular bounce houses, Tammy began demonstrating specific safety checks that the attendants would be required to perform. Depending on what surface the inflatable needs to be anchored to, attendants learned that they would have to check sandbags or stakes for proper anchoring to the ground and to the item. Ensuring proper anchoring means ensuring that the inflatable will be able to handle winds without leaving the ground and endangering those in the bounce house. Attendants did learn how to detect if wind speeds were approaching an unsafe level, and were told to deflate the moonwalk if this happened, reducing the object’s surface area so it could not be blown away. In addition to learning safety measures, A&S staff described how to comply with state regulations. This involves having a sheet with each inflatable that states the Ohio Revised Code, and a fire extinguisher. When providing an inflatable to events, A&S also provides instruction manuals for all inflatables, along with copies of their dimensions. Among many other topics that were covered that night, potential attendants discovered the difference between inflatable moonwalks, obstacle courses, slides (both wet and dry), and many other unique party equipment.
Overall, the safety training night was a fantastic success, and A&S Playzone and its entire team look forward to a fun and safe summer!!