Boy, 3, falls through springs at trampoline park where man died, prompting calls for regulation

A Surrey mom is speaking out after she says her three-year-old son fell through a trampoline at a Richmond trampoline park on Saturday.

Ravi Gill-Douglas and her child were at the Extreme Air Park to attend a friend's birthday party.

The boy was jumping on one of the trampolines, when suddenly, a little girl came over and told Gill-Douglas he fell through.

He was nowhere to be seen, so Gill-Douglas rushed over to look for him.

"I'm ripping off the velcro trying to find him, like, where is he? And he's trapped underneath," said Gill-Douglas.

A family friend who was hosting a children's birthday part at the park, Jamie McHardy, reached under the trampoline to pull the boy up from a gap between the springs. He estimated it was about a five or six foot drop.  

"I reach my arms down through the hole … He kind of had to wiggle his way through and squeeze his shoulders in to get through. But I managed to pull him out," he said.

Gill-Douglas took her son aside to comfort him, and he was looked over by a staff member. His mother said he was shaking and in shock.

"He just went blank. Like, his eyes dilated, just stopped talking and didn't move. Like, he just sat there," she said.

The boy was taken away to hospital by ambulance as a precaution, where doctors said he was OK but should be monitored, according to Gill-Douglas.  

Email apology sent to parents

CBC News reached out early Thursday to the trampoline park by phone and email, but the lawyer representing the company said they would not be issuing a statement to CBC.

It did provide a statement to Postmedia.

"We understand the child was in an area he should not have been but was quickly retrieved and without injury. Our team responded quickly, and we are happy the child is safe and uninjured," the company statement said.

An apology, signed by Extreme Air Park VP Operations Thomas McCullough, was emailed to Sophia and Jamie McHardy. 

"I am sorry for his experience and your shock as a parent," it said.

The email explained that the company does a visual inspection every day prior to opening and another at night.

"It was determined that the only way for the condition where the incident took place was done by tampering. We have since restored that area to its proper condition," it said.

The email also said the company has added safety netting under all the spring rails at all of its parks.

"I recognize the drop is only three feet to the floor, but I also recognize your son could have been injured much worse, and we do not want this to happen again," the email said.

Calls for regulation

Gill-Douglas and the McHardys are calling for government to take action to regulate trampoline parks.

McHardy said he saw gaps where springs were missing or misaligned. The one he pulled the boy through he estimated to be about one square foot in size, which he felt was unsafe. 

"You've got gaps in between, clearly where people could fall," he said.

Gill-Douglas said she's reached out to three different levels of government since the incident, but hasn't gotten any answers.

She said establishments like this should have to follow safety regulations in order to get a business licence.

"As a mother, I'm thinking about what could have happened if that girl wasn't there. We're lucky. And I don't want this to happen to anyone else, another parent, another child," she said.  

Technical Safety BC reviewing

Currently, trampoline parks are unregulated in Canada, but Technical Safety B.C. said it's reviewing its amusement ride standards to see how additional technologies and activities should be included in regulation in the Safety Standards Act.

A man died at the same Richmond Extreme Air Park earlier this year.

"The issue of trampoline parks will be seriously considered as part of our review," said Laura McLeod, communications leader for Technical Safety B.C., in an email.

The organization has an advisory panel looking into the issue and will submit recommendations to the province later this year.

The Union of B.C. Municipalities is also bringing forward a motion regarding safety regulations for trampoline parks at its annual convention happening in September in Whistler.

The motion emphasizes the incidence of injury at trampoline parks is increasing and recommends the province implements safety standards under the regulation of Technical Safety B.C.

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