Tauranga bouncy castle incident under investigation by WorkSafe

Event-goers hold down the bouncy castle after stopping it from rolling through the crowd at Fergusson Park. Photo / Vanessa Potgieter

WorkSafe is launching an investigation after people were injured when a bouncy castle was picked up by the wind and subsequently tumbled across a Tauranga park on New Year’s Eve.

The incident happened about 7.30pm at Fergusson Park in Matua, Tauranga. Witnesses described the “terrifying” moment a bouncy castle blew away, rolled through the crowd and “squashed” people at the community celebration run by Tauranga City Council.

The council initially reported five people were injured, later saying it had spoken to four people - all from the same visiting family. One of them went to hospital and was discharged the following day with a fractured shoulder; the other three were recovering at home.

Today, WorkSafe said in a statement it was opening an investigation into this incident, but could not comment further while the investigation was ongoing.

Ambulances at Fergusson Park, Matua, after a bouncy castle blew away. Photo / Carmen Hall

Geoff Pearson, operator and director of Rockup North Ltd, which was running the bouncy castle, told the Bay of Plenty Times on January 1 all safety protocols had been followed, but a “freak gust of wind” had picked up the bouncy castle and “ripped it out of the ground”.

Pearson said protocols had been followed as per the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, including fencing, a safety sign, mats, having the blower fenced off, and a trained adult supervisor.

“Unfortunately, it was a freak situation, but still our hearts go out to those families... Unfortunately, with freak weather conditions now due to climate change, you can do everything by the book and do everything correctly, but it still does not prevent accidents from happening,” he said at the time.

“Our thoughts go out to those families who have been harmed by this inflatable incident, and we apologise for any inconvenience felt by patrons at the event for closing down the units prior to the wind uplifting the inflatable at Fergusson Park, Matua, Tauranga on New Year’s Eve.”

Today, Pearson said the company welcomed the investigation “as we would also like some insight on what, if anything, we can do or put in place to prevent this type of situation from happening again”.

“We made the call to shut down early, and once again, I hold my staff in the highest esteem for doing this,” he said.

“This will be only the second time in 16 years of operating that we have closed down due to extreme weather conditions.”

A Tauranga City Council spokeswoman said it was continuing to investigate the incident and was in ongoing communication with WorkSafe.

“It is still too early to ascertain exactly what took place, and it will take some time to conduct a thorough review into what happened.”