Managing risk within Indoor Play Areas

Here at Play Creations, we recognise that with any operator of an indoor play area, their primary concern must be the safety of the children within the facility and most importantly on the soft play equipment.

Fundamentals

Since the days of playing with rocks in dimly lit caves, it’s been a given that as children we will suffer the odd knock and scrape, as we test the limits of play. It is easy to get carried away with new games or pieces of play equipment and this is just a part of growing and developing

We, as designers of soft play equipment and you as operators of indoor play areas, want to provide a stimulating, challenging, and fun-filled piece of play equipment. However, we all must recognise situations where hazard and risk of injury can occur and design and manage these areas in the best possible way, without reducing the facility to a dull and boring experience.

Legalities within softplay

It is a matter of law that any business operator carries out risk assessments to ensure the safety of their employees, stakeholders, and customers. Failure to do so can lead to criminal prosecution!!

Get it right

As it stands there is no statutory law that governs indoor play centres but there are strict European and British safety standards in place, that any good supplier and operator must adhere to. Needless to say, Play Creations adhere strictly to both EN1176 and BS8409 when it comes to the design and installation of our adventure play equipment. 

It is now commonplace for the focus to be on the prevention of circumstances that could prove harmful to your visitors. It is important to regularly check, record and maintain up-to-date documentation of existing procedures for identified areas within your facility, as well as recording any new procedures put in place to prevent incidents from occurring. These should include inspection, cleaning, and maintenance schedules and all should be reviewed regularly.

We do offer all the relevant documentation as part of the package, to enable you to put the correct systems and procedures in place to comply with the current best practices. We would also recommend utilising the specific skills of other organisations to protect your and your personnels’ best interests. The Health and Safety Executive, for example, is one such organisation and is an excellent source of information on all aspects of risk assessment within the workplace.

Providing an indoor play area is a challenging business with many facets that need to be considered for it to operate successfully. With the continued support of Play Creations, you can realize the ambition to operate a safe and successful family entertainment centre.