How to Choose a Safe Trampoline: An Australian Buyer's Guide

A trampoline is one of the few things you can put in a backyard that gets used almost every day. It is also the piece of equipment parents ask us the most nervous questions about. Both of those things are fair.

The good news is that most trampoline injuries come down to a small number of avoidable things: too many kids on the mat at once, not enough clear space around it, worn out padding, and no supervision. Get those right and you have solved most of the problem before your child has taken a single bounce.

Here is what to look for when you buy, and how to set it up properly once it arrives.

The Australian standard, and what it actually means

The relevant standard here is AS 4989, Trampolines for domestic use: Safety aspects. It covers frame strength, spring padding, enclosure design and the warnings a manufacturer has to supply.

One thing worth knowing: there is currently no mandatory trampoline safety standard in Australia. The ACCC publishes guidance and AS 4989 exists, but no supplier is legally compelled to meet it. That puts the responsibility on you to check, and on us to stock trampolines that are built to it rather than to a price.

So when you are comparing brands, ask the question directly: is this trampoline built to AS 4989? If a retailer cannot answer that, treat it as an answer.

Age: why six is the number

Kidsafe recommends that full size trampolines are not used by children under six years of age. Younger children have less developed balance and coordination, and their bones are still soft enough that the forces involved in a bad landing do real damage.

That does not mean a three year old cannot bounce. It means the equipment should match them. A junior or toddler trampoline sits low to the ground, has a smaller mat with far less rebound, and usually includes a handlebar. It is a genuinely different product, not a small version of the same thing.

If you have a five year old and a nine year old, buy for the younger one or buy two. Do not buy a 12ft trampoline and rely on rules to keep the little one off it.

Space: measure before you buy, not after

This is where most people come unstuck, and it is the one thing you cannot fix later.

• Clearance around the trampoline: allow a minimum impact area of 1500mm beyond the edge of the frame, on every side. Clear of fences, walls, garden beds, the clothesline pole, play equipment and outdoor furniture.
• Clearance above the trampoline: Kidsafe recommends at least 5 metres above the mat. The ACCC frames the same requirement as 8 metres of overhead clearance measured from ground level, which is the more useful number when you are standing in the yard looking up at a clothesline or a low branch.
• Overhead hazards: powerlines, washing lines, verandah eaves and tree limbs. Look up before you commit to a spot.

Take a tape measure into the backyard before you order. A 14ft trampoline needs roughly 7.3 metres of clear ground once you add the impact area, and a lot of Australian backyards simply do not have it. Better to know now.

What to check on the trampoline itself

Spring padding

The padding has to completely cover the springs and the top surface of the steel frame, with no gaps at the joins. It should be a contrasting colour to the mat so that a jumper can see where the safe area ends. Thin, narrow padding that shifts when you push it is the single most common corner cut on a cheap trampoline.

The enclosure net

Look for a net that attaches to the inside of the padding, so a falling child cannot land on the springs on the way down. The net material should be UV stabilised, because an Australian summer will destroy an untreated net in a season or two. Check the entry: a zip and clip closure is far better than an overlap flap that a child can wander out of mid bounce.

Frame and legs

Galvanised steel, thicker gauge is better, with W shaped legs rather than straight ones for stability. Check that the leg braces lock rather than just slot together.

The mat

UV treated polypropylene, with the stitching at the edge running in multiple rows. Look at the weight rating and be honest about who will use it, including adults.

Where to put it

Level ground, always. A trampoline on a slope puts uneven load through the frame and makes falls more likely.

For the surface underneath, well maintained grass is acceptable for home use. Better is an impact absorbing material such as bark or mulch. Never concrete, pavers or hard packed dirt. If you are buying for a school, kinder or childcare centre the bar is higher: you need certified surfacing tested to AS 4422.

If you would rather avoid the height question entirely, an inground trampoline sits flush with the lawn. The fall distance is a few centimetres rather than a metre, which removes a whole category of injury, and it looks considerably better in a small yard. It does mean digging a hole and dealing with drainage and airflow, so it is a bigger project up front.

The rules that prevent most injuries

Both the ACCC and Kidsafe are unambiguous on the first one.

• One person on the trampoline at a time. Most serious injuries happen when two children of different sizes bounce together and the smaller one is launched off a mat that is moving the wrong way. Two people is not twice the risk, it is far more than that.
• Supervise. Not from inside at the kitchen window.
• Bare feet. No shoes, no socks, nothing in pockets.
• No somersaults or flips at home. Landing on the head or neck is how the worst injuries happen.
• Do not bounce into the net. It is a fall arrest, not a wall to play off.
• Zip the enclosure shut every time, including when nobody is on it, so a younger sibling cannot climb in unnoticed.

Ongoing maintenance

Give it a proper look over at the start of every season, and a quick glance every few weeks:

• Mat: any holes, fraying or stitching that has pulled away
• Springs: any that have stretched, rusted through or come unhooked
• Padding: still fully covering the springs, not brittle or split
• Net: no tears, still properly tensioned, zip working
• Frame: rust at the joints, leg braces still locked

Replace worn parts rather than working around them. If a trampoline is more than about ten years old and the padding and net have both perished, the maths usually favours replacing it, because a frame from that era was probably not built to the current standard anyway.

Choosing a size

Rough guide, assuming you have the clearance for it:

• 4.5ft trampolines: toddlers, typically with a handlebar
• 6ft trampolines: young children, small yards
• 8ft trampolines: primary school age, tight blocks
• 10ft trampolines: the most common family size
• 12ft trampolines: multiple children, room to move
• 14ft and 16ft trampolines: larger yards, older kids and adults

You can see the full range in our kids trampolines collection. Everything we stock is covered by our Price Match Guarantee, and we deliver Australia wide.

Once it is set up, have a look at games to play on a trampoline, because a trampoline that only ever gets plain bouncing tends to get abandoned by about week six.

Written by Carla, owner at All Things For Kids.