A young boy fell from a fast-moving roundabout swing at the Boardwalk Inkwazi Shopping Centre funfair. Photo: Zenani Nxumalo
Richards Bay parents have raised concerns about the safety of equipment at the moving Boardwalk Inkwazi Shopping Centre funfair following an incident which left a young boy injured when he fell from an unsupervised, fast-moving roundabout swing last week.
It is alleged that some of the rides have no safety belts, are old and unserviced with some making creaking sounds.
The annual funfair opened on June 16 and runs until July 16. On the day of the incident, it is alleged that the boy slipped under a restraining bar, falling face first into the ground. He allegedly suffered injuries to his jaw and tongue.
A witness said operators did not have a First Aid kit on site and that a passer-by with First Aid training stopped to assist the bleeding boy before the ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital.
Another parent said her daughter had fallen from a moving train at the funfair.
“We reported and nothing was done, they didn't even clean her up, the man that was operating the train apologised, and that was it,” she said.
Another parent said her daughter had also fallen from the same train and suffered bruises on her forehead.
Thilen Naidoo, general manager at the Boardwalk Inkwazi Shopping Centre, said they were aware of the incident that left the boy injured.
He said it was unfortunate, but fun fair management had responded almost immediately.
“The child’s mum, together with funfair management, had immediately taken charge of the incident and the child was taken to a medical facility for treatment. Our understanding is that the family of the child were happy with the manner in which the incident was handled.
“We are also not aware of any further incidents and there were no reports to security,” he said.
Dave Christie, national executive from the South African Institute for Playpark Safety (SAIPS), an independent Inspection authority, said there were no fewer than 100 severe injuries per year in the country on play equipment which included inflatables, funfair play equipment, indoor play areas and play parks.
He said all play park and play equipment in permanent placement such as schools, municipal parks, shopping mall play areas and parks must be inspected every three months to ensure compliance, and that operators have public liability insurance in case of an accident.
“All movable parks need to be inspected every time the equipment is erected on site, and it needs to be certified as compliant to the minimum safety standards prescribed by the South African Bureau of Standards and the Department of Labour.
“We at SAIPS prescribe a 52-point safety checklist and plan to adhere to but up to date we have had utmost resistance from operators, moving parks and funfair owners on being inspected as they do not want to pay the fees associated with such inspections and certification. There is also very little enforcement from the government and it becomes progressively worse to get these operators compliant,” he said.
Christie told the Sunday Tribune that they had no record of the Richards Bay funfair having been inspected by SAIPS currently or in the past.
“Non-compliance means non-participation. Parents must insist on seeing inspection and compliance certification for every piece of equipment when the operator opens for public use, signed off by a play park inspector or engineer.
“They should ask to see the operator's public liability insurance certification which should be no less than R50 million in mall situated and mega Gypsy fun fairs and R20 million in case of smaller Gypsy operators. Do not let your children or yourselves get on to non-compliant equipment or partake in activities run by non-compliant operators.”
He said non-compliance should be reported to SAIPS.
The Sunday Tribune was unable to get comment from the funfair operators.
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