Seizure fears haunt boy hurt in fall

Zaybein Watley suffered a fractured skull after falling on to concrete at Napier's Inflatable World.

A boy who fractured his skull at Napier's Inflatable World sleeps on the floor in fear of having another seizure.

While Zaybein Watley is making steady progress, he still has some way to go until he is back fighting fit.

The 10-year-old was playing on a bouncy castle when he fractured the back of his head and temple after he fell down a hole at the indoor playground on July 7.

Zaybein started having seizures and was flown to Auckland's Starship children's hospital.

Inflatable World shouted Zaybein and his father a trip to Auckland and tickets to the second Bledisloe test.

His mother, Haley, said the company could not "buy" a solution to the issue but it was a good start. "Anything that can put a smile on Zaybein's face, I'm happy about."

Ms Watley said Zaybein was doing much better than expected. "He is going to school for three hours at a time before coming home to rest."

However, he was sleeping on the floor in his sister's room, afraid of having more seizures.

Ms Watley hoped his team of three specialists would have him back in his own bed and attending school fulltime within the next fortnight.

The Napier branch of Inflatable World has remained closed.

Ms Watley, whose family was visiting Napier from Upper Hutt, said she wanted the centre to stay closed until safety standards were improved.

"I just don't want to see any more kids hurt. As long as it's ticked off with OSH and Worksafe I wouldn't have a problem with it reopening."

Zaybein is a promising rugby player and it is a "major fear" for the family that he will be unable to return to the game he loves.

"We really hope that next year he can play rugby again but only time will tell. It is his dream."

Acting Inflatable World manager Jarrod Armitage said a WorkSafe investigation was ongoing.

"In advance of their report, we've been busy making changes to our centres nationwide," Mr Armitage said.

The changes included hundreds of new soft mats to cover floor areas for extra precaution. Wipeout balls had been retrofitted to prevent children bouncing between an individual ball and the inflatable playground.

All seven-man jousting arenas had been secured in place to prevent the misuse of equipment by players and to stop stands being dislodged.

Also, an independent engineer was certifying every piece of inflatable equipment at sites around New Zealand.

"When this is complete, we'll be the only company with an engineering certificate for our inflatable equipment," Mr Armitage said. "We hope to have this process complete in the next month."

All Inflatable World sites would be audited every year.