Weight limit for a water slide: “embarrassed”, requires a discreet bathroom scale

One of the waterslides at Windsor’s indoor water park was recently the scene of two accidents, and since then a weight limit of 136 kg (300 lbs) for two or three people has been imposed. To be allowed to slide, the group must first take their place on a scale.

According to Jessica Camerona mother who regularly visits the water park, a digital screen indicates the person’s weight to the lifeguard, who then decides who can slide.

Mme Cameron was not allowed to slide with her son. She had to turn back.

I felt embarrassed. I found it invasive.

In 2024, we need to be more sensitive towards people, their mental health and their body image issues. I can take it, I can handle this kind of situation, but I don’t know if everyone can, and I don’t want them to have to live [une telle expérience] she explains.

The City of Windsor, owner of the water park, says it has since purchased a more discreet scale.

However, according to a body image expert, this is a case of fatphobia.

Don’t develop a product and make it available to the public if it can’t handle different kinds of weights – heavy weights – because we know the people who are going to use them are going to come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Disconcerting

At the end of November, Ms. Cameron goes to the water park Adventure Bay with her 7-year-old son, as she often does. This time, however, she notices a new rule for one of the slides, the Python. There is now a weight limit of 136 kg (300 lbs) per group. The slide must be done by two or three people.

After climbing a series of steps to reach the top of the Python, a large blue slide where people sit in a tire-shaped float to slide in groups, Ms. Cameron saw a scale and a sign indicating that the weight requirements had changed.

Mme Cameron explains that a digital screen displays people’s weight to the rescuer.

She says she found the scene disturbing. It was disconcerting, at first, to see a scale on the floor that looked like something you would put a dog on.

- has not seen the scale in question.

There must be a better way according to Ms. Cameron.

She says her son got on the scale first, then she joined him, even though she knew they would exceed the weight limit.

Her son was able to slide in the company of a rescuer. mrs CameronShe had to go back down the steps, going against the flow of other users. She says she was ashamed in front of these people.

Mme Cameron says she thought of her students, she who is a secondary school teacher. She says such an experience could have been devastating for some of them.

Two recent accidents

In an email, a spokesperson for the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), which monitors the safety of activities at the water park, indicated to CBC that there were two accidents on the Python recently, where users fell down the slide .

Consequently, the TSSA issued an order requiring the total weight limit on the slide to be temporarily reduced from 600 to 300 pounds, until the park owner can conduct technical evaluation and testing to determine a safe maximum weight limit .

The TSSA said it will conduct a follow-up inspection to confirm maximum capacity.

Security, priority number one

In a written statement, Windsor Senior Executive Director of Community Services, Michael Chantlerdeclared that Visitor safety is always our number one priority .

In the case of the Python, we must comply with the weight limit issued by the regulatory body. Posters [qui expliquent ce raisonnement] are installed at reception, at the front door and at the bottom of the attraction entrance said Mr. Chantler.

He specifies that the posters contain information on the weight limit and inform all visitors that they will be weighed discreetly .

But Mrs. Cameron claims that there were no signs at the bottom of the stairs, and that if she had seen one, she would not have gone up the stairs.

Already discreet, according to the general manager

M. Chantler claims the process is as minimally invasive as possible.

When a visitor is on the scale, only the rescuer can see the number he explains.

No numbers are spoken out loud and staff are trained to communicate delicately with customers. Weight, age and height restrictions are commonly used in the amusement park industry and are intended to ensure the safety of visitors.

For its part, the City of Windsor explains that it has ordered a new bathroom scale designed specifically for the amusement park industry but it has not yet been delivered.

The scale can weigh several people at the same time to ensure that the combination does not exceed a certain weight for safety reasons.

[Sur le nouveau pèse-personne]no weight is ever displayed; there is only one green or red light.

An example of fatphobia, according to an expert

For his part, Kyle Gansonassistant professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work from the University of Toronto, says life events where people have to turn back because of their weight can have consequences on their mental health.

M. Gansonwho has worked with people suffering from eating disorders, body image issues and mental health or addictions, says the situation Ms. Cameron is an example of Weight stigma and discrimination: To participate in life and have fun activities and experiences that people with perhaps smaller bodies would have, you have to be a certain weight.

Open in full screen mode

He adds that although he is neither an engineer nor an expert in these types of slides, he believes there are ways to make this equipment so that it can support higher weights.

M. Ganson states that such experiences can cause shame and create body image issues in some people. I should have a different size they can say to themselves, according to him.

Such thoughts could lead someone to try to change their body through excessive dieting and overtraining, which could lead to problems like eating disorders, he says.

Mme CameronShe considers that the new scale recently ordered by the City of Windsor, which only displays a green light or a red light instead of the total weight, is a step in the right direction.

Even though, she said, the scale tells a group or person that they are [acceptables] or notshe thinks a red or green light may be better than a screen that shows the weight itself.

After her experience, Ms. Cameron made a post on social media in a group of mothers in the region in an attempt to inform other women of the presence of this scale.

People [dans les commentaires] were definitely of the opinion that it’s not appropriate, that it’s harmful, that it’s humiliating, particularly for young girls and for mothers like me who are there with their children, who are brave enough to put a swimsuit. […] It’s a big step, at my age after having children, to want to put on a swimsuit she confided to CBC.

I think everyone deserves to be respected and to feel like they can do activities in their body as it is.

With reporting from CBC’s Jennifer La Grassa