The operator of a giant inflatable slide that collapsed and snapped the ankles of a dad atop it will have to pay more than $400,000 for the incident.

JTK Trustee Limited, trading as Fun Solutions, allowed its mammoth slide to become overloaded and collapse at the Whangamatā Summer Festival in December 2020, says a statement from WorkSafe.

The incident sent a dozen people, most of whom were children, falling from heights of up to 12 metres.

After more than 18 months and 11 surgeries Louwan van Rooyen can still not stand for too long, crouch down, or run.

'I'm in pain every day,” he told the Waihī District Court on Monday – where JTK Trustee Ltd, trading as Fun Solutions, was sentenced for a Worksafe charge of exposing an individual to risk or harm.

'It was like I wasn't able to be a dad to my kids, and felt like I was letting my wife down,” says Louwan.

JTK Trustee Limited has been sentenced in the Waihi District Court on Monday August 29 for its failures.

Judge William Lawson ordered the company to pay a $350,000 fine, with Louwan to get $40,000 for emotional reparation and $12,958.98 for consequential loss. JTK Trustees was charged under Sections 36(2), 48(1) and (2)(c) Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

The Act requires that 'a Person Conducting Business or Undertaking - a PCBU - having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of other persons was not put at risk from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking, namely while riding the land-borne inflatable slide (the Mammoth Slide), and that failure exposed individuals to a risk of death or serious injury from a fall from height'.

The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $1.5 million.

Eric Gerritsen is listed as the sole director of the company and failed to appear in court.

Witnesses say there were no rules displayed for riding the mammoth slide, no instructions were given, there were also no weight or age checks done, and there were no workers at the top of the slide at the time of its collapse. Afterwards, people who were on the slide were not evacuated effectively or safely.

Expert reports found the slide was electrically unsafe, had air leaks via holes and seams, and poor anchoring.

Louwan Van Rooyen, a 34-year-old dad of three was at the top of the slide at the Whangamatā Summer Festival Craft Markets on December 28 in 2020 when it suddenly deflated.

Louwan van Rooyen's legs in casts after he fell from the giant inflatable slide.

He slid down as it started to fall and landed on both feet, badly breaking both ankles. Eleven other people, mostly children, also fell from the 12-metre platform – but only suffered minor injuries.

Louwan says he remembered being on the ground and looking down at his legs to see his feet were facing in different directions, with the bone sticking out of his left leg.

'That's when the pain came,” says Louwan.

He had broken his right leg in three places, and the tibia and fibula of his left leg and was flown to Waikato Hospital.

WorkSafe's investigation concluded the slide did not comply with required standards, the operators should have had safe systems in place for operating the slide, including what to do in emergencies, and ensured its workers properly supervised and instructed slide users.

WorkSafe has had 11 prior interactions with JTK. In 2015, a mammoth slide became overloaded and collapsed – injuring six children at the Masterton A&P show. The director Eric Gerritsen was fined $115,000 for obstructing WorkSafe's investigation.

Between 10 and 15 children were on the 'mammoth slide” when it collapsed.

And a similar incident happened in the Hamilton Gardens about a year later in 2016, when a similar slide, also owned and operated by Event Fun Unlimited, collapsed throwing 10 children about 10 metres to the ground.

That incident was apparently precipitated by an adult scaling the slide. A three-year-old had become scared at the top and refused to come down. The child's father had climbed up to help, and that is when the inflatable slide tipped over.

WorkSafe issued a directive letter, and Hamilton City Council later banned the company from operating at the site.

Those incidents are just chapters in the company's long history of injuries and frightening children.

'On top of the latest incident, this company's safety record is extremely concerning”, says WorkSafe's area investigation manager, Paul West.

'When people are on an amusement device, they have an expectation their safety is being looked after by the operator. Most operators in Aotearoa are aware of this expectation and strive to meet it, but this business has had numerous failings which is unacceptable.

'For that reason, WorkSafe expects improvement from the operator and will take further action if necessary,” says Paul West.

Suppliers and operators of devices such as inflatable slides are subject to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. This means they need to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety so far as reasonably practical.

Read about operating requirements for inflatable devices on land.

Read more about WorkSafe prosecutions.