Welcome to BIHA alert # 34. (Issued
Contents:
- Welcome and
introduction.
- Second-hand inflatables
for sale.
- PIPA news and some
clearer comments from Mark Jerram. (Also see www.pipa.org.uk )
- New picture gallery for
unusual / extreme inflatables.
- BIHA van stickers.
- Hints & Tips.
- Brand new service for
BIHA members.
- Please check your free
advert on 2 websites.
- Real-life hire stories.
- Booking opportunities for members.
- Prosecution against an inflatable hire
firm.
- Giant garden games.
- Stolen Inflatables.
- What size fan should I use?
- Wanted Items.
- Questions from members to members.
1) Welcome
and Introduction.
There is a lot of information in this alert, and also some new services that
the BIHA is providing which will enhance the value of your membership. Mark Stevens (BIHA webmaster and I.T. support
etc.) is now back in the office full-time after his
accident at Christmas. I am pleased to
inform everyone that the BIHA van stickers are ready to be printed – once
payment has arrived. (Please see section
5 in the contents for more details).
I have recently learnt that some members have not been receiving their
BIHA alerts because their spam filters have moved the alerts into spam folders
and then deleted them. In some cases the
service provider has returned the email to me even before it has reached the
spam filters. This is of great concern
as it means that some members are not receiving these alerts. As a result of this problem, every alert is
also being posted on the “Members Only Pages” on www.biha.org.uk
2) Second-hand
inflatables for sale.
This section is available to BIHA members only. If you would like to see this
section please send an e-mail to mark.jerram@ntlworld.com
for an information pack and application form to join
the BIHA (This section contains many 2nd hand inflatables which are
not advertised on the message board.
3) PIPA News (Including a clearer statement posted on the
message board on
Further to my comments in last months alert
(#31), I need to make it crystal clear
to all members that although the PIPA scheme is not law, it is “best practice”
and is currently the only testing scheme in the UK which is supported by the
HSE.
The public and corporate customers who use a
BIHA member (or indeed a member from any of the other two hire associations)
expect higher standards of professionalism than a non-member (and is why if you
display the BIHA logo on your stationery, website etc. you are likely to get more
business). Any trade association / organisation, the world over, expects it members to follow
“best practice” and at this moment in time, PIPA is “best practice”. I am fully aware of issues and concerns which
some members have about PIPA.
The article below
was posted on the industry message board on
In
BIHA news alert # 31, I wrote the following:
"In order to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974,
bouncy castles and inflatable slides should be PIPA tested and tagged before
My full statement can be
read online at: www.biha.org.uk/newsalert31
With the benefit of
hindsight, it would have been much clearer if I had written the following:
In order to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the only HSE supported
testing scheme it is "best practice"
for bouncy castles, inflatable slides and activity play inflatables to
be PIPA tested and tagged before 1st October 2005.
Currently, the only testing scheme that the HSE support is the PIPA scheme. The
BIHA strongly recommend that to avoid the inevitable last-minute rush that
members don’t wait till the last minute but get their units PIPA tested
ASAP. Throughout 2005, all the remaining local authorities in the
As a hypothetical situation, let's say an
operator goes to his local tester (who is not PIPA registered), and has a
test certificate issued on his castle. The castle is hired out during
the coming season. However, a more stringent PIPA test would have identified
that the entrapment areas were not PIPA compliant. E.g. the gap between the
bottom of the side walls and the bed was slightly too large, and a child got
their arm caught underneath which led to a fracture. As a result, it
goes to court, and the HSE are the prosecutor. One thing which would come
up in court would be: did the inflatable comply with the "best
practice" testing scheme? (i.e. PIPA) or an
alternative test which was at least as good as PIPA. If
it could be proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the castle would NOT have
passed a PIPA test, then the onus would be on the operator to prove that they
followed "best practice". If the operator cannot prove that
they followed "best practice" (i.e. they opted for a cheaper
(non-PIPA) annual test), then they would be more likely to be prosecuted by the
HSE, for deliberately not following "best practice".
To summarise, I need to emphasise that PIPA is "best practice" not
the law. If an operator is brought before the courts due to an accident
on one of their inflatables, if it has a current PIPA certificate, it
offers a degree of protection to that operator. It does NOT make them
immune from prosecution, but it does make it much less likely that the HSE
would bring about a prosecution (assuming other safety precautions were
implemented e.g. correct staking down of unit).
I hope users of this board realise
that I am not trying to scaremonger people into all rushing out to get
their units PIPA tested tomorrow! What I am trying to do is to lay the cards
on the table and illustrate in a worse case scenario (i.e. death or injury on
an inflatable) what could happen if an operator chooses not to follow
"best practice".
Playing on an inflatable is a safe form of activity
providing simple precautions are undertaken. The PIPA test is one example of a safety
precaution. Another example is correct staking down of the unit and
adequate supervision.
Please
refer to www.pipa.org.uk
for more information on PIPA including a list of current PIPA inspectors in the
Thanks
Mark Jerram
4) NEW PICTURE GALLERY FOR UNUSUAL INFLATABLES. See: http://www.biha.org.uk/Gallery/index.htm
Earlier this week, a new section was added to
the BIHA website. A
picture gallery for unusual or “extreme” inflatables.
If you own an unusual inflatable – please email
a picture of it to me at: mark.jerram@ntlworld.com
Similarly, if any manufacturer has produced
something very unusual or eye-catching, please email it to me and I will hope
to include it on this section with a link to your website. (Free
advertising!)
Please click on: http://www.biha.org.uk/Gallery/index.htm
5)
BIHA
van stickers now available.
Many members have asked about the BIHA van stickers.
They are now ready to be printed. There
will be 3 sizes, Large (A4), medium (A5) and small (car tax disc size). Many of you who attended the LIW show at the
NEC last September would have seen them on display and about 75 were given out.
These van stickers are very high quality and show the
BIHA logo in full colour with the word “MEMBER”
written underneath. They are not cheap,
and as a result I will have to take payment from members before the print run
goes ahead later this month.
As well as the stickers, the print company (Advantage
Copying & Print Services) will be able to produce a photo ID card (credit
card size) and also a certificate of membership for each member. The big advantage of a photo ID card is that
it will enhance your professionalism.
When you arrive at a customer’s door, or work premises (if corporate) it
will look extremely professional if you are wearing a photo ID card displaying
your photo, the name of your company and also that you are a member of the
BIHA. Also, if you turn up for a site
inspection or to give a quote in person, and you are wearing your BIHA ID badge
you are more likely to get the job. The
certificate can also be displayed in your office or home.
In addition, for every BIHA member who orders the van
stickers, you will also receive some free reports (to increase your income)
which I have acquired the reproduction rights to. For a full list of these please click
on: www.biha.org.uk/199reports
Also, you will receive a free copy of the report: “25 ways to get FREE advertising for your
business”.
Finally you will receive a free copy of the sequel to
“How To Turbo-Charge your profits from hiring inflatables”.
This will show you dozens of more ideas, hints &
tips to increase your profits from the inflatable hire business. This is fully up to date.
To summarise:
This is what you will receive:
1)
5 BIHA high quality van stickers (2
Big, 2 Medium and 1 small). 4 for the
outside of your van and the small sticker to go inside the windscreen).
2)
A photo ID card displaying your
name, company and membership of the BIHA.
3)
Certificate of membership.
4)
Free reports to increase your
income www.biha.org.uk/199reports
5)
A free copy of the report “25 Ways
to get Free Advertising for your business”.
6)
A free copy of “How to turbo-charge
your profits from hiring inflatables – Vol. 2.
The cost of all this is just £29.99 (However this is
fully tax deductible) so the real cost is around £23.
You can pay this by either credit card or cheque.
Please send your cheque to:
Mark Jerram
BIHA Van stickers
100 Oakengates,
RG12 7QL.
Please make your cheque
payable to “Advantage 2” (Please do NOT
make it payable to the BIHA).
If you would prefer to pay by credit card, please
contact me (Mark Jerram) on 01344 485389, so that I can record your credit card
details. (Please do not email me your credit card details – it is safer by
phone).
Once all the orders have come in – I will then
instruct the printer to start printing the van stickers, ID passes and BIHA
membership certificate. This should be
late February / early March ready for the coming season.
Please could you also send me a passport sized photo
of yourself, so that it can be inserted in your ID card.
Please email me on mark.jerram@ntlworld.com if you have any queries about this.
6)
HINTS AND TIPS
Try putting
your name & telephone number as high as possible on the rear of the
inflatable. People will see it in customers’ gardens over the fence or
wall and will then be able to contact you, what better way to advertise
than by using the kit itself.
Customer
recommendation is great, it’s free but this takes time to achieve and you
need to work hard looking after the customers you have now.
When you
have turned off the blower, insert a traffic cone into the blower tube on the
inflatable, now hold this against the suction part of the blower and turn it
back on, basically its a reverse of inflating, thus, deflating the inflatable,
a lot quicker and virtually all of the air, it almost vacuums the unit, worth a
try, especially if you have a really large unit.
Doug
Onestop
There is a little trick that me and Wibbly
use, it enables us (in an emergency) to put our giant slide (which normally
takes 2 or 3 of us to lift) in the transit on our own.
What you do is, when you have the castle/slide/unit on a sack barrow,
push it to the back of the transit, then tip the barrow slightly forward so
that the unit will topple towards the back of the van, and come to rest leaning
against the rear of the van at about a 65 degree angle, move the barrow out of
the way and approach the unit, bend your knees and keep you back straight, then
placing BOTH hands at the top of the side of the unit closest to you, push
the top away from you. the unit should then Pivot and the bottom of the unit
should come out towards your legs quite easily, now , and this is the important
part, as the bottom starts to rise, get you knees under it, so that when you
release the top, the unit will be resting quite comfortable half on your knees
and half in the van, it should also be just about horizontal, then all that
remains is to slide the unit horizontally into the van by pushing the bottom of
it away from you.
If you do this correctly it puts almost no strain on your body and I
have seen my 16 year old sister put the slide into the van by herself using
this method.
I am not saying this method is foolproof, but it works for us and means
that, if necessary 1 person can do the job, but as we tell people, just
because we can do it ourselves, we don’t want to do it ourselves, at all times
when lifting make sure you have back up if necessary.
Wibbly’s mad staff
Also
have a look at the following websites for a unique idea in lifting inflatables.
http://www.e-hosting4less.com/~bounce/Bounce%20Loader.htm
How to pack away a bouncy castle.
1. Start
deflating castle (leaving stakes in ground or sandbags attached) and pack away
other bits of kit whilst it is deflating.
2. Pull each tower of the castle, one at a time clockwise (or anti clockwise,
it doesn't matter) i.e. the top of tower one to the base of tower two, top of
tower two to the base of tower three etc. This spreads the fabric out so you
don't get too much in any one place.
3. Remove stakes/bags (they were left in to give you something to pull
against).
4. Fold either the left or right side over leaving about a third of the castle.
Squish it (working from the front to the back)
5. Fold other side right over and squish again front to back (utilising tubes to let the air out)
6. Start rolling from the step (which I always leave out) all the way to the
back.
7. Roll back a bit and fold in the inflation and deflation tubes.
8. Finish rolling.
9. Tie and bag it (if you use transit bags).
The good thing about doing it like this is the fabric is fairly evenly spread;
the rolled castle is narrow for going thru gates etc, and the biggie.....
When you come to set up somewhere, you can always tell where the back of the
castle is at it is the first bit to be unrolled. This saves having to turn it
around once unrolled.
I will really miss all you guys, I
really enjoyed last year.
John aka JayHoe
More hints & tips……………………..
If possible
rotate the kit you hire out in winter i.e. don’t put the same 12x12 out every
week try and put out different ones out each week as this gives them an
airing. We also stop doing outdoor hires from this weekend till around
end of February, some don’t adopt this method but it saves even more soaking
wet bouncies.
Cleaning castles ready for the new season.
Without a
doubt the best thing for cleaning castles is Traffic film remover.
I buy it by
the gallon and dilute it into a spray bottle, spray it on to the castle and use
a car washing brush on the area I am cleaning. Then wipe over with a towel.
It gets all
the muck from the grain of the vinyl. The only thing to make sure is that you
wipe it over after especially off artwork as it very strong.
How to keep the blowers more stable.
Try
leaving a small amount of slack in the air intake tube attached
to the castle, we find this works 99% of the time,
also make sure the blower is on level ground. Hope this helps.
BIHA
note: Thank you to all members who
contributed to these excellent hints & tips.
7) BRAND NEW SERVICE FOR BIHA
MEMBERS.
A member has recently pointed out to me that
while it is good for members to have a free listing on www.biha.org.uk and www.leisurescene.com , some customers
want to hire a certain piece of equipment (e.g. a rodeo bull, large obstacle
course, giant mega-slide or even a full knockout set of inflatables). They may have to make a lot of phone calls to
members to find the equipment that they are looking for. Often a customer may have to book from a
company which may be 100 miles or more away. I have even heard about corporate
companies spending several hours trying to locate a BIHA member who owns a
particular type of equipment. The BIHA are now going to make it much easier for
these companies to source a particular piece of equipment.
The BIHA
will start to create a data-base of EQUIPMENT (and who owns what). The categories included will be: Rodeo
Bulls, Surf Simulators, Multi-rides, Obstacle courses, mega-slides (i.e. taller
than 20ft). Bungee Runs, Knockout inflatable Games, Surf Simulators, Sumo,
inflatable barriers for quad bikes etc.
PLEASE NOTE THAT “EVERYDAY” INFLATABLES e.g. BOUNCY CASTLES &
CHILDRENS SLIDES & ACTIVITY PLAY WILL NOT BE INCLUDED.
The first
category to be included on the BIHA website will be RODEO BULLS. If you are a BIHA member and own and operate
a rodeo bull please could you contact Mark Stevens on www.leisurescene.com/Contact.html. This service for
rodeo bulls will be free of charge for members.
However, for other categories (e.g. mega-slides) there may be a very
small one-off admin. fee. (Approx.
£3).
One big
advantage of these “Equipment Categories” is that the search engines should be
able to pick it up quite quickly. When
it comes (for example) to websites advertising many rodeo bull suppliers –
there is not much competition. These
categories should provide more bookings for members, and increase the value of
BIHA membership.
8) Please check
your free advert on www.biha.org.uk and also www.leisurescene.com
The BIHA
webmaster – Mark Stevens has now fully recovered from his broken collar bone
during Christmas.
One of his
responsibilities at the BIHA office is maintaining the data-base which powers www.biha.org.uk and also www.leisurescene.com Please could you visit the members listing
section and check that your free advert on both sites is correct. If it is not please contact Mark on www.leisurescene.com/Contact.html
These
member listings have been designed to be “search engine friendly”. This means that if a potential customer goes
into Google or Yahoo! for instance and type out “Bouncy castle hire” or “Rodeo
Bull Hire” and then the name of your town, then the search engines are likely
to identify your company amongst others.
More and more customers are now using the internet to source services
(esp. when they are at work!).
9) Real Life Hire Stories
A
booking we had last year was outside in the grounds of a village
hall. After we had left, the customer decided she wanted it inside.
Instead of contacting us, she and her friend removed all the anchor
stakes, dragged the entire castle without rolling it or folding it,
and dragged it through a single width door still with the blower
attached!
We
arrived to find a castle with the inflation tube twisted, the castle soft
because the airflow was restricted, and absolutely no anchor points secured at
all on a slippery polished wooden floor! (We would have obviously secured it
with sandbags if we had been notified).
When
questioned about the safety issue, and of course the possibility of damage to
our equipment, the hirer just didn't care - she even had the cheek to complain
about the bed was soft which was caused by the twisted inflation
tube!
That
day ....... our own personal "blacklist" was born 
Tracey
Christie
One member
supplied a bouncy castle to a village hall which had a hard wooden floor. After setting the castle up he put a large safety mat at the front and said his goodbyes
to the customer. Just as he was leaving,
another chap (not a BIHA member) turned up with another castle. He did not have any safety mats so he
“borrowed” without permission the crash mat from the first castle and put it in
front of his castle (outrageous behaviour or what!!)
We had to deliver our 16 x 16 castle to a customer
which we had delivered to the previous year. Although we had delivered to this
area before it was the same castle on both occasions.
The lady gave me her address, thinking I knew where it was didn’t feel the need
to look it up, she also said she had to take her daughter dancing on that
morning but she would leave the side gate open for us.
We arrived at the house and knocked the door; there was no answer so I said to
my helper "no problem she’s leaving the gate open for us”. We went into
the back garden cussed and swore a bit because she hadn’t moved the swing and
garden ornaments like promised but continued to move them anyway. The castle
was rolled out, electrics in place, mats in place and we waited for her to
return. As we had a lot on that day and we had now waited for about 15miniutes
I decided to leave her a note to just plug it in. I went to the car (which was
parked in a lay by, because we couldn’t get the car and trailer up the little
lane) to get some note paper. I thought I would try phoning the lady in case
she was at home and hadn’t heard the door. To my surprise she answered, I
explained that we had knocked and had gone into the back garden to set up. She
apologized and said she would come out to us. A few minutes went by and the
phone rang, the lady said I am in my back garden and your not here, it was then
that I asked her to clarify the address. To our horror, we were at the wrong
house, it was worse because we had reorganised this
garden taking out a swing a water feature, moving plant pots and toys. We have
never packed a castle away so quick .After loading everything into the
trailer, the lady pulled up along side our car on her way to fetch her daughter
back from dancing. We waffled our way out of a very embarrassing situation.
We did contact the other lady: whose garden we had trashed, eventually who had
been on holiday at the time. Being a female and being blonde I don’t need to
explain what my husband said!!
10) BOOKING
OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEMBERS.
Can any member help with these bookings?
If you can, please feel free to contact them…they are
waiting for your calls…
Dear
Mark-I am looking for two items for College Balls at present.
1. A
Discobounce (dome style) for
2.
Crazy Golf for Durham University on Friday 4th March set up by 7.30pm and
operate between 9.00pm and 3.ooam.
I
have to quote prices so can't make offers at this stage as you will appreciate.
Best
regards- and thank you
Barie Hawkins 01763-208755
|
Jean Brimble |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Email: |
|
jean.brimble@bwbsl.co.uk |
|
|
||
|
Phone: |
|
0117 9645394 |
|
|
||
|
Date of event: |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Approx. budget: |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Event type: |
|
not selected, charity fund raiser |
|
|
||
|
Number of attendees: |
|
200 |
|
|
||
|
Location: |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Category: |
|
Bucking Bronco Hire |
|
|
||
|
Enquiry: |
|
This is a fund raising event, being held on a farm, require
from approx |
|
The following
enquiry has been received via. Your
PartyPages.co.uk listing. |
||
|
|
||
|
Name: |
|
Esther Smith |
|
|
||
|
Email: |
|
littlemissspiller@hotmail.com |
|
|
||
|
Phone: |
|
07849130251 |
|
|
||
|
Date of event: |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Approx. budget: |
|
- |
|
|
||
|
Event type: |
|
18th Birthday party, |
|
|
||
|
Number of attendees: |
|
150 |
|
|
||
|
Location: |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Category: |
|
Bucking Bronco Hire |
|
|
||
|
Enquiry: |
|
Cost? To come to Whitehaven |
|
Stella Dann |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Email: |
|
stelladann5@aol.com |
|
|
||
|
Phone: |
|
01372 801079 |
|
|
||
|
Date of event: |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Approx. budget: |
|
£500 |
|
|
||
|
Event type: |
|
Kids party, It’s Eastwick Junior
School Summer Fair. |
|
|
||
|
Number of attendees: |
|
200+ |
|
|
||
|
Location: |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Category: |
|
Bouncy Castles |
|
|
||
|
Enquiry: |
|
We have previously hired your giant slide and would like a
quote for re-hire same as before and also interested in hiring another item
from you. Maybe Bucking Bronco/Go-Karts depending on cost. Pls recommend any other item you think would be suitable
for the school summer fair. |
|
Matt Laird |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Email: |
|
matt.laird@holmesplace.com |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Phone: |
|
0131 550 1650 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Date of event: |
|
TBC |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Approx. budget: |
|
TBC |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Event type: |
|
Corporate event, |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number of attendees: |
|
200 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Location: |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Category: |
|
Bucking Bronco Hire |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Enquiry: |
|
Can you let me know prices for a days
hire please. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Thank you - we look forward to promoting your business
online in the future
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||