The Complete Soft Play Daily Checks Checklist (Free Download)

Every soft play operator knows they should check their venue before opening. Fewer know exactly what to check, how to document it, or what the legal consequences are of skipping a day. Daily safety checks are not a nice-to-have. They are a legal expectation, an insurance requirement, and the single most effective thing you can do to prevent injuries in your venue. This guide gives you a complete checklist, explains the legal framework behind it, and covers how to build daily checks into a sustainable routine that actually works.

Why Daily Checks Matter Legally

The requirement for daily safety checks comes from several overlapping legal and regulatory sources:

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires you to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of everyone who uses your premises. Checking your venue before admitting the public is about as fundamental as that duty gets.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require you to have arrangements in place for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring, and review of preventive and protective measures. Daily checks are the "monitoring" part of that duty.
EN 1176 (specifically Part 7) requires routine visual inspections of playground equipment, to be carried out daily or before each use depending on the level of risk. For a busy soft play centre, that means before every opening.
Your insurance policy almost certainly includes a condition requiring regular safety checks and maintenance. If you cannot show that you carried out a check on the day of an incident, your insurer has grounds to question your claim.

The HSE does not publish a specific soft play daily checklist, but its guidance on managing risks and maintaining equipment makes clear that routine checks are a core part of any safety management system. If the HSE investigates an incident at your venue, one of the first things they will ask for is your daily check records. If you do not have them, or they are incomplete, you have a serious problem.

For the full picture of your legal obligations as a soft play operator, see our complete UK soft play regulations guide.

The Complete Daily Checks Checklist

This checklist is designed to be comprehensive without being impractical. Adapt it to your specific venue, but think carefully before removing items. Every item is here because it addresses a real risk that has caused real incidents in UK play venues.

Play equipment

Walk through the entire play structure, checking every level, slide, tunnel, and climbing element.
Check all padding for tears, splits, exposed foam, loose coverings, and areas where padding has shifted to expose hard surfaces beneath.
Check all netting for holes, stretched mesh, detached edges, and foreign objects tangled in the net.
Check all platforms and walkways for stability, surface condition, and any loose or damaged panels.
Check all slide beds for smoothness, cracks, exposed fixings, and build-up of debris.
Check ball pits for adequate ball depth, damaged or split balls, and any foreign objects (lost toys, food wrappers, nappies, this happens more often than you would like).
Check all barriers and guardrails for stability and correct positioning, a barrier that has been pushed out of alignment overnight is an entrapment or fall hazard.
Check any moving parts (rotating elements, swinging components) for smooth operation and secure fixings.
Check inflatable equipment for air retention, fabric condition, seam integrity, and secure anchoring. Verify the blower is running correctly and the electrical supply is safe. If your venue has inflatables, see our PIPA inspection guide for detailed maintenance expectations.
Check any sensory or interactive elements (lights, sounds, water features) for correct operation and electrical safety.

Hygiene and cleanliness

Check that all play surfaces have been cleaned and sanitised since the last session, paying particular attention to high-touch surfaces: handrails, tunnel entrances, and slide entry points.
Check toilet and nappy changing facilities for cleanliness and adequate supplies (soap, paper towels, nappy bags).
Check the cafe or food service area for cleanliness, correct food storage temperatures, and compliance with your food safety management system.
Check that cleaning chemicals are stored securely in line with your COSHH assessments.
Check for any signs of pest activity. Report and address immediately.
Check floors throughout the venue for spills, wet patches, and trip hazards.

Environment and building

Check all lighting is working, particularly inside the play structure and along emergency exit routes. Replace failed bulbs before opening.
Check temperature and ventilation. Soft play structures get hot during busy sessions. Ensure HVAC systems are operating correctly.
Check all doors and windows operate correctly. Emergency exits must open freely and must not be obstructed.
Check the car park and external areas for hazards, damaged surfaces, ice in winter, or anything that could cause injury.
Check that access routes are clear and accessible, including wheelchair and pushchair access.

Fire safety

Check all fire exit routes are clear and unobstructed. This includes corridors, stairwells, and the final exit doors.
Check fire exit doors open freely and that any panic bars or push pads are working.
Check fire exit signage is visible and illuminated (if required to be).
Check fire extinguishers are in their designated locations, have not been discharged, and are within their service date.
Check the fire alarm panel for any fault indicators. If your system shows a fault, investigate before opening.
Check that fire doors throughout the venue are closing fully on their self-closers and are not propped open (unless held by a magnetic release linked to the fire alarm).

First aid

Check that at least one qualified first aider is on duty for the session.
Check all first aid kits for adequate supplies. Replace any used or expired items.
Check that the accident book is available and that staff know where it is.
Check that any specific medical supplies (e.g. an automated external defibrillator, if you have one) are in place and showing a ready status.

Staffing

Confirm that adequate staff are in place for the expected session, both in number and in the qualifications or training they hold.
Confirm that all staff on duty have completed their required training (first aid, food hygiene, safeguarding, manual handling, as applicable).
Confirm that DBS checks are current for all relevant staff. SafePlay's Staff Compliance tracker keeps this information current and flags when action is needed.
Brief staff on any known issues from the previous day's checks or any specific risks for today's session (e.g. a private party with a higher-than-normal number of children).

How to Document Checks Properly

Carrying out daily checks is only half the job. Documenting them is the other half, and in some ways it is the more important half. If you check your venue every morning but do not record it, you have no evidence to show an inspector, an insurer, or a court that the check happened. In legal terms, if it was not recorded, it did not happen.

Good documentation means recording:

The date and time the check was carried out.
Who carried it out, their full name and role, not initials.
What was checked, against a standardised checklist for consistency.
The outcome of each item, pass, fail, or not applicable.
Details of any issues found, including description, location, and photographs.
The action taken, what was done, who was responsible, and when it was resolved.
Follow-up confirmation, evidence the issue was resolved before opening, or what interim measures were put in place.

This may sound excessive for a daily routine, but it is exactly what the HSE, your local authority, and your insurer expect. With the right system, it does not have to be time-consuming.

Paper vs Digital: Which Is Better

Many venues still use paper checklists, a printed form on a clipboard, completed with a pen, and filed in a folder. Paper works in the sense that it creates a physical record, but it has significant drawbacks:

Paper gets lost. A year's worth of daily checklists is a lot of paper. It has to be stored, organised, and retrievable. In practice, folders go missing, pages get damaged, and filing systems break down.
Paper is hard to search. If an insurer asks "what did your check show on 14 March?", you need to find and retrieve a specific sheet from a specific folder. If you need to identify a pattern, say, recurring issues with a particular piece of equipment, you would need to read through months of forms manually.
Paper does not prove timing. A date written on a form is only as reliable as the person who wrote it. There is no independent verification that the check was actually carried out at the time stated. Digital systems create automatic timestamps that are much harder to question.
Paper does not support photographs. If you find an issue during a check, a photograph is worth far more than a written description. Paper forms do not accommodate this.
Paper cannot send alerts. If a check reveals a critical issue, a paper form sits in a folder until someone reads it. A digital system can immediately flag the issue to a manager.

SafePlay's Daily Safety Checks feature is built specifically for play venues. It provides a digital checklist tailored to your venue and equipment, timestamped and signed by the person completing it. Issues can be photographed, categorised by severity, and escalated automatically. Every check is stored in a searchable archive that you can access from any device. When an inspector asks to see your records, you can pull them up in seconds.

Common Mistakes with Daily Checks

Even venues that do carry out daily checks can undermine their value through common mistakes:

1. Tick-and-go syndrome

The person completing the checklist ticks every box without physically walking the venue. This creates a false record that works against you if investigated. A check completed in two minutes without a walkthrough is worse than no check at all. The solution: train staff on why each item matters, rotate who does the check, and set a realistic time expectation of 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Not acting on findings

A checklist that shows the same defect noted day after day without resolution is evidence of a known hazard you chose not to address. Every issue should have a clear owner, a deadline, and a follow-up to confirm resolution. Critical issues should prevent the affected area from opening until fixed.

3. Using a generic checklist

Your checklist should be specific to your venue, referencing areas by name ("check Level 2 climbing wall netting") rather than broad categories ("check play equipment"). This specificity makes checks more meaningful and records more useful.

4. Only checking play equipment

Incidents happen in car parks, toilets, cafes, and corridors too. Your daily check should cover the entire premises, from the moment a customer arrives to the moment they leave.

5. Not reviewing the checklist itself

Your venue changes over time. Your checklist should be reviewed whenever you change equipment, layout, or procedures, and at least annually as a formal review.

How Often to Review Your Checklist

As a minimum, review your daily checks checklist:

Whenever you install, remove, or significantly modify equipment.
Whenever you change your cleaning products or procedures (update COSHH references).
Whenever you alter the layout of the venue.
After any incident or near-miss, ask whether the checklist would have caught the issue, and if not, add an item that would.
After any external inspection (EN 1176, fire safety, food hygiene, local authority) that identifies issues your daily checks did not catch.
At least annually, even if nothing has changed, as a formal review of whether the checklist remains adequate.

What to Do When You Find an Issue

Finding a problem during a daily check is the system working as intended. What you do next is what matters.

Minor issues

Issues that do not present an immediate safety risk but need attention, a small scuff on padding, a light bulb that needs replacing, a soap dispenser running low. Record the issue, assign it to someone, and set a deadline for resolution. The venue can open, but the issue should be fixed that day or within a clearly defined timeframe.

Significant issues

Issues that could present a risk if not addressed, a tear in netting that has not yet opened fully, a loose panel on a platform, a fire exit that is stiff to open. Close off the affected area or equipment until the issue is resolved. Record the issue, the closure, and the resolution. Do not reopen the area until the fix has been verified.

Critical issues

Issues that present an immediate danger, an entrapment gap that has opened up, a structural failure, a broken emergency exit, a gas leak, or any situation where someone could be seriously injured. Do not open the venue (or the affected section) until the issue is resolved and verified. Contact the relevant specialist immediately (your equipment supplier, a structural engineer, the fire service, the gas provider). Record everything in detail, including times and the names of everyone involved.

For all issues, the key principle is: do not open to the public anything you would not be comfortable explaining to an HSE inspector. If you find yourself thinking "it is probably fine," that is a signal to pause and assess properly.

Building a Sustainable Routine

The biggest challenge with daily checks is consistency. It is easy to be thorough in the first week after you set up a new checklist. It is much harder to maintain that standard 365 days a year. Here are practical ways to keep the quality up:

Assign responsibility clearly. One named person per day, with a named backup if they are absent.
Allow enough time. Build 20 to 30 minutes into the pre-opening routine specifically for the safety check.
Rotate the checker. The same person every day leads to familiarity blindness. Rotating keeps eyes fresh.
Provide proper training. Show every checker each item on the list, what a pass looks like, and what a fail looks like.
Review results weekly. A manager should look for patterns, recurring issues, and signs that checks are being rushed.
Use digital tools. Mandatory fields, photo capture, and automatic timestamps make it harder to cut corners. SafePlay's Daily Safety Checks feature is built for this.

Daily checks are not glamorous. They are repetitive and routine by design. But they are the foundation of safe operations in any play venue. The annual inspection tells you whether your equipment is structurally sound. The daily check tells you whether your venue is safe to open today. Both matter, but the daily check is the one that prevents the incident that happens between annual inspections. Invest the time, build the habit, and keep the records. Your customers, your staff, your insurer, and your own peace of mind all depend on it.