A family from Maple Ridge has questions about safety after an injury to a 17-year-old boy at a trampoline park left him wounded and requiring stitches.
The injured teen’s aunt says her nephew was hurt on Nov. 10, saying he and another person collided while using the facilities at a trampoline park in New Westminster.
“One of the boys from our group was in a bubble ball and hit another boy who was not in a bubble. The boy who got hit, fell face forward into our nephew, hitting his front teeth into his face,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.
“Our nephew, who was not in a bubble, was standing up from falling just as the boy fell into him. He didn’t realize he was hurt until blood started pouring down his face.”
She says the wound was deep and required stitches. She’s not happy with the response from staff and how the injury was handled before she took her nephew to the hospital for treatment.
1130 NewsRadio has reached out to the company for a response and also to Technical Safety BC about safety standards at trampoline parks in the province.
The province’s independent safety authority admits it still does not regulate the industry, despite a high-profile review and public consultation process after a trampoline park death in Richmond in 2018.
“We recognize that safety at trampoline parks is crucial and are committed to working with operators and the province to achieve that,” said TSBC in a written statement to 1130 NewsRadio.
“We have conducted a review of the amusement devices regulation to address new and emerging types of equipment, including, but not limited to, trampoline parks. As part of that review, extensive industry and public consultations were held and proposed regulatory changes were submitted to the Province of BC,” it continued.
However, those proposed regulatory changes were submitted to the provincial government in 2019 and, five years later, remain with the Ministry of Housing, which is responsible for industry safety regulations.
“We’ve already taken steps to amend legislation to expand the oversight of Technical Safety BC (TSBC) to include trampoline parks, and we’re currently drafting regulations that would bring new safety standards to help owners and operators of trampoline parks enhance safety,” said a Ministry spokesperson.
“We are reviewing the recommendations and working with TSBC to ensure that their recommendations can be implemented in a way that both enhances the safety of trampoline parks while also avoiding impacts to businesses who operate safely.”
However, the Ministry would not give a timeline for when those regulatory changes could be made.