OUR COMMITMENTS TO YOU
We provide equipment that has been tested by competent inspectors, we provide visual inspections on every hire, we ensure everything we hire out complies with local and national government and HSE regulations.
Safety is the cornerstone of what we do (it’s not all fun and games!) – Here’s a brief guide of our compliance with the BSEN14960:2013 and how we go above and beyond the requirements to fulfil our obligations. All our electrical equipment is PAT TESTED (annually) with visual inspections done on EVERY hire and bi-yearly records made. All our inflatables, soft play and games are safety tested every year and carry appropriate RPII or PIPA certification . We are also registered on the national RPII database of accredited controllers and operators, this ensures our set-ups are done
LINK TO HSE EN14960:2013 REQUIREMENTS
BSEN 14960:2013 is the European standard we follow for our inflatables. It defines what is classed as ‘Play Equipment’ that is deemed suitable for commercial hire. It covers the design and manufacture of inflatables. It also covers the safe setup of inflatables. The standard is overseen by the HSE – The Health and Safety Executive of England. The HSE require that a regular inspection of inflatable castles and slides are carried out by a “competent person.” They recognise ‘The Register of Play Inspectors International’ or ‘RPII’ as an inspection body that can examine, accredit and certificate individual play area inspectors who are then qualified to test play equipment against the requirements of EN14960:2013. The RPII were actually co-founded by amongst others the ‘Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). They also work closely with the British Standards Institute (BSI) and have an active representative on the RPII Board. All inflatables should carry a valid RPII or PIPA certificate to show they’ve been annually tested by a “competent person”. It is not a requirement of law to use an RPII Inspector to do this but it is strongly inferred and preferred – we use an independent RPII and PIPA approved Inspector
Who are PIPA?
There’s a large amount of misleading information regarding PIPA, who they are and what they provide – PIPA are nothing more than a national database, which can be accessed (read only) by anyone. Information found on the database has been entered by RPII approved inspectors. The role of PIPA in the industry is currently imperative because they provide this database and tagging system for inflatable play equipment. In order to place a blue PIPA tag on an inflatable bouncy castle or slide you must be a qualified RPII Inspector who has also then registered with the PIPA scheme. PIPA are not an inspection body and do not train their own inspectors they just provide the tagging system and the online database. Every castle or slide with a PIPA tag on it carries a unique number that you can go online to their database and check that the castle carries a current certificate of the en14960:2013 standard by a recognised RPII Inspector.
Why do we have PIPA Certificates and ‘Self Certs’ for our equipment?
There is no legal requirement that bouncy castles or slides must be registered with the PIPA scheme and RPII Inspectors issue their own certificate of EN14960:2013 compliance in place of the PIPA tagging upon the request of the hire company. To clarify; so long as it’s tested to an acceptable standard as deemed by a qualified RPII Inspector, it doesn’t matter how it’s logged. It just matters that it is done.
It obviously makes sense that there is a traceable tag for referencing to see if the inflatable you are hiring is safe – this is why we opt for PIPA tags and inclusion on their database. However, the PIPA database limits itself and does not recognise anything that is not listed in the standard. So if it’s not a bouncy castle or a slide it can’t be tagged and registered under the PIPA scheme. So RPII Inspectors use elements of the standard to be able to perform a ‘self cert’ test on our other commercial hire play equipment such as Soft Play, Ball Pools, Sumo Suits, Gladiators and such or anything that’s not a bouncy castle or a slide. These items also all require a regular inspection and this is proven in our independent testers “self certs”
Who tests our equipment?
Our inspector, Chris Ball, from A1 Weymouth Bouncy Castles is a registered and qualified RPII Inspector and is also registered with the PIPA scheme to be able to issue PIPA tagging in place of his own test certificates upon request.
Can I View Total Bounce’s Safety Certificate
Yes. We are VERY TRANSPARENT with all our safety certification – All of our certificates are available for viewing. Anything that falls under the scope of the PIPA scheme (which is bouncy castles and slides) has a certificate online on the PIPA database website which can be viewed through our website on the products page by simply clicking ‘the “Safety & Test Certification” Tab.
What about other Bodies who act for the industry, such as BIHA?
There are a number of other bodies who claim to act for the inflatable hire industry, sadly these are not recognised by the HSE backed up by our national and local government – unfortunately these organisations will often claim to be something they are not, please do your own independent research on this to confirm this – the rumours that companies must be BIHA are completely false, BIHA is a private business to put bouncy castle owners in touch with each other, assist in the running of the business and offer advice on business practises, BIHA does NOT currently, nor in the past or in the future work WITH the HSE, nor does it require ANY proof of competence, or equipment test certificates to be part of .
BIHA was formed many years ago and actually advise unsafe practices in contradiction to the current BS:EN regulations laid out by HSE. There are many other private organisations set up like this – none of these are relevant and are only set up to profit. We practise a due diligence to safety, competence, working equipment and a dedication to ensure all BS:EN regulations are met – by using a professional RPII REGISTERED and PIPA APPROVED inspector at the advised intervals.
Here are some posters for circulation within your organisation
