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Bounce houses can put children at risk, lead to death, study shows

ATHENS, Ga. — If your child loves to play in bounce houses, listen up.

A new, University of Georgia study shows how dangerous they can be.

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Since the year 2000, winds have caused at least 479 injuries and 28 deaths worldwide.

Many of the wind-related injuries happened on what seemed to be good weather days.

“These bounce houses aren’t something to set up and then forget to stake them into the ground,” said John Knox, lead author of the study and a geography professor at the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “What could go wrong? The answer is that it could blow away in winds that are not anywhere near severe levels. Some of these cases were in purely clear skies.”

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The study also showed an estimated 10,000 emergency room visits occur in the U.S. each year due to bounce house injuries.

Researchers said basic precautions such as securely staking bounce houses into the ground, attaching sandbags to weigh the structure down, and monitoring windspeeds and other dangerous weather conditions likely could’ve prevented many, if not all, of the accidents.

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According to the release, fewer than half of the states in the U.S. have explicit statutes and regulations for safe bounce house usage, the study found.

Currently, the state of Georgia does not have specific regulations pertaining to the inflatable rental business.

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