Standards and records
What the rules cover, and the large area they do not
British Standards, supervision ratios, risk assessments, public liability cover, inspection regimes and incident records. What each one actually promises, and what a parent is entitled to ask to see.
What the British Standards cover, and the large area they do not
Standards for play equipment describe the equipment. They say very little about how a business runs, who is watching or whether checks are done. That gap is where most of the risk lives.
Supervision ratios: what they mean, and who is actually watching
Venue ratios are usually about how many children one adult may bring, not about how many staff are watching. The difference matters and it catches people out.
Risk assessment: what a venue should have written down
The risk assessment is where a venue's actual thinking lives. What it is required to contain, what a good one covers, and what you are entitled to ask about it.
Public liability insurance, and what cover actually means
Insurance is frequently offered as reassurance and rarely explained. What public liability cover is for, why employers' liability is different, and what it does not promise.
What a venue must record when a child is injured
There is a difference between an accident book entry and a reportable incident under RIDDOR. What gets written down, what gets reported, and what you should ask for.
Inspection regimes: daily, annual, and the gap between
Play equipment inspection works in three tiers. What each tier is for, who should be doing it, and which of the three most often quietly disappears.
First aid and staff training in indoor play centres
What an operator must work out for itself about first aid cover, what a paediatric qualification adds over a standard certificate, and what you can check from the floor in five minutes.
The fortnightly note
One email every two weeks. What we have published, one thing worth checking on your next visit, and any change in guidance or consumer law that affects families. It carries a clearly labelled sponsor line and that sponsor cannot influence a word of the safety guidance.
We use your address for the newsletter and nothing else. See privacy and the published rate card.