Jumping castle firm fined after workers burned

A jumping castle hire business will fork out over $50,000 after a court found it exposed two workers who were badly burned in a fire to the risk of serious injury.

A Gold Coast jumping castle company has been fined $50,000 after two workers suffered serious burns in an explosion.

Southport Magistrates Court heard three workers from Jolly Jump Rentals were delivering a jumping castle at Tallebgudgera in February 2018 when the accident happened.

The court heard the men opened the truck’s back doors and noticed petrol fumes. The generator, which had not been secured, was on its side with a puddle of petrol on the floor.

Two of the workers climbed into the back of the truck to retrieve the generator and clean up the petrol.

The workers noticed the petrol cap was lose and there was a battery hanging off the side of the generator by a wire.

When one man was putting the battery back in place, the wires sparked, and an explosion occurred. There was no fire safety equipment on the truck and the two men suffered significant burn injuries.

Jolly Jump Rentals has been fined $50,000 for failing to comply with its primary health and safety duty, exposing workers to a risk of serious injury or death.

A police fire scene examination found the generator to be the most probable ignition source leading to the explosion and fire.

Magistrate Mark Howden found the incident arose from a combination of events, including the generator not being secured, a lack of training and the fact there was no safety equipment on the truck.

Mr Howden said that simply securing the generator would have prevented the incident.

He took into account that Jolly Jump Rentals was a small business whose turnover had been halved by the impacts of COVID-19, but also noted that the injured workers had been given limited financial assistance.

He fined Jolly Jump Rentals $50,000 for failing to comply with its primary health and safety duty, exposing workers to a risk of serious injury or death.

The company was also ordered to pay more than $4000 in court costs.