Risk Identification & Management

Identifying the main risks

When a risk is identified we must respond quickly to minimize the chances of it happening again. Students and customers have a responsibility to listen and respond to our feedback and if they fail to take the steps recommended by a coach or staff member to minimize those risks, we may take disciplinary action to reinforce the importance of training with safety in mind. This could be moving to yellow and a time-out during lessons, or telling a customer that their session will be cut short if they continue to put themselves at risk.

Here is a list of our identified risks and actions we can take to minimize the chance of it ending with an injury.

Close Calls

Close calls are when students perform a trick and make a mistake in the air, narrowly escaping an injury. This can indicate a student is trying a trick they are not ready for and that they need to work on the fundamentals of that trick before attempting it again.

• Approach calmly and point out that you are concerned for their safety before asking if they know what caused the mistake in their trick
• Provide them with any feedback if you witnessed the incident and ask them to take a minute to self reflect afterwards
• If the student is in shock, ask them to stop trampolining until they have calmed down
• If you believe there is a risk of the incident repeating, ask them to go back to basics and practise the set for the trick or something else relevant to that trick
• If students continue repeating close call incidents, and are not following coach guidance to practise safely, they are putting themselves and others at risk and disciplinary action can be taken 

Collisions / Near Misses

Collisions / near misses are when multiple students are involved in an incident that ended in or nearly ended in a collision.

• Approach those involved calmly and let them know that they have been involved in a high risk incident, give them a chance to explain the incident from both of their points of view before telling them how you perceived it
• If one of those involved was acting irresponsibly and putting the other at risk, take them aside and emphasize the need to practise safely. Ask them to confirm whether they understand before allowing them to continue their session
• If students are denying their fault and are being ignorant to the severity of their actions, further disciplinary action may be taken
• Remind those in close proximity to which the area occurred that there is a risk of collision and ask them to “look before you leap”

Double Bounce

Double bounce is one of the most common causes of injury in all trampoline parks and incidents must be responded to quickly and seriously. This does not apply to those who have discussed and arranged a double bounce session with the approval of a staff member.

• When spotting multiple people on a trampoline who are just bouncing around unaware, approach them calmly and remind them that there is only one person allowed on a trampoline at a time
• Remind them that there are many trampolines and other tools to train on
• When the incident involves very young children, and during a quiet session, you can place a large crash pad down on the trampoline to allow them to bounce to prevent them from being able to accidentally double bounce
• If someone is spotted double bouncing someone without their knowledge, quickly intervene and explain to the customer that this is never allowed due to the high risk of injury to the person bouncing. If they repeat it, one final warning before they are not allowed to continue with their session.
• If there are people double bouncing each other with control who are experienced, remind them that they must communicate with staff before starting. If it is a busy public session ask them to only train double bounce during quieter session and when someone is ready to throw a pad

Exhaustion

Practicing and performing advanced skills takes a lot of physical and mental energy, not taking rest breaks and not knowing when to call it a day highly increases the risk of injury.

• If students or customers are learning new advanced skills, ensure they are taking regular breaks from the trampoline – even if they say they aren’t tired
• This is a great opportunity for them to not only rest, but to self reflect
• Remind them that it’s not just physical, learning new tricks uses a lot of mental power too
• If energy levels get too low it will be impossible to train new tricks safely
• If students begin having close calls, ask them to take some time to practise a new trick or go back to the set of the trick
• If the student or customer does not know when to call it a day make that call for them before they injure themselves

Attention / Awareness 

A large variety of incidents occur when people in close proximity to a trampoline are not paying attention to their surroundings, or when they are not focusing on the tricks they are performing. It is important that we pay attention to what is happening around us and give ourselves space and time to react.

• Lack of attention is a contributing factor to all previously mentioned incidents
• If students in a class are blatantly ignoring the coaches when they are advising them to perform a trick that may put them at risk, check their knowledge before allowing them to practise on the trampolines
• When there are young people waiting for a turn on the trampoline, ask them to sit or stand right back so that someone doesn’t land on them
• If you see someone on the floor who is not paying attention, be polite and ask them to be aware of their surroundings as there is always the risk of somebody getting ejected to the side out of a trampoline