The spouse of a man who died while jumping into a foam pit at Richmond’s Extreme Air Park is suing the company.
Tanya Hayes has filed a civil suit in B.C. Supreme Court, along with their three children, claiming the park at the Riverport Sports and Entertainment Complex was negligent.
Jay Greenwood, 46, died in January following a fatal injury after diving into the foam pit at the park while playing with his two young daughters.
According to the suit, which was filed June 30, the park failed to provide adequate instruction and supervision and failed to protect Greenwood from harm.
As a result, Hayes claims the family, which is from Victoria, has suffered “loss of love, guidance, and companionship,” as well as a “loss of childcare services, financial support and inheritance.” The family is seeking damages.
It’s also alleged in the court document that Extreme Air Park failed to ensure the equipment was adequate or made proper inspections and didn’t ensure the foam pit was sufficiently wide and deep enough.
None of the allegations has been proven in court.
According to witnesses, Greenwood was jumping from an elevated trampoline into a foam pit and broke his neck.
His death prompted serious questions among eyewitnesses about safety at the facility, with some claiming staff at the park didn’t appear to know what to do at the time.
The Richmond location is advertised as “Canada’s Largest Trampoline Park” at 42,000 square feet.
WorkSafe B.C. inspected Extreme Air Park in Richmond three times between 2013 and 2015.
“The employer is not maintaining the workplace in a form acceptable to the board, a record of all injuries and exposures to contaminants covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation that are reported or treated,” according to a report from Sept. 5, 2013.
As well, the park had “not developed and implemented an exposure control plan, to protect workers from potential occupational exposure to a blood-borne pathogen.”
Extreme Air Park asks customers to sign a waiver acknowledging risks.
Two weeks after the fatality, the company issued a statement, offering its condolences and also asking the provincial government to draw up trampoline safety regulations, which don’t appear to exist.
