Canopy tents are not dangerous. They alone are not hazardous, rather it is mishandling and inadequate use that could involve them in dangerous situations. Their first and foremost purpose of a canopy is to provide shade from the sun exposure in general to the elements. That is what a canopy does. Second, if it is a printed canopy, it helps you with branding and outdoor marketing so you can expose your brand in public while looking like a legitimate organization. And Finally, a canopy tent is a portable kiosk that represents your company anywhere you go. All of this is possible because the canopy is a compact (for what it does) promotional product that can be taken just about anywhere and withstand almost any environment. It is a pretty straightforward promotional item, but we do have some safety tips and tricks to avoid unsafe practices.
Why is canopy tent safety important?
We cannot stress how important canopy safety is. Without the proper handling and setup there can be trip hazards, fire hazards and even tents flying away. None of those sound like scenarios that we would want to experience or be involved in. Now many of these are just common sense and were happy were not the ones that had to find out the hard way, but we have taken note of what not to do over the years. In order to help you avoid being in any of these situations we have come up with a list of common do's and don'ts to ensure basic canopy safety is met and understood.
Our canopies can typically weigh anywhere between 40 to 150 pounds and in high winds air pressure can build up underneath the canopy top and flip a canopy over or drag it across open areas. The grand majority of canopies are manufactured out of aluminum or steel and they can be extremely dangerous because they can cause damage to property or even harm someone. A gust of wind can sneak up on you and take your tent from one second to the next (not that we want to make it sound scary.) Of course, it doesn't mean that your canopy is not safe in any windy situation, but we do recommend that you remove your canopy from wherever it is installed if winds exceed 15 miles per hour. At 15 miles per hour any collapsible canopy can be blown over, dragged across open spaces or smashed into things (even if it's tied down or staked into the ground.) While everything we have mentioned so far is true, there is no need to fear as there are proper ways to tie down and secure a tent to prevent any of these things from happening.
When tying down a canopy we have seen people try all sorts of gimmicks and contraptions. We have seen people tie anywhere from buckets full of rocks to tree trunks and cement blocks. In the following list I will go over what not to do and how not to use unauthorized weights. The list of the following items is not here because they do not work, rather because they can be dangerous or obtrusive. They can create trip hazards and possibly injure someone. We would just recommend that nobody use any of the
Now one of the really important things is to secure your canopy without creating a trip hazard or placing anything in the way that might blocks someones' path in and out of your tent. You also want to make sure that all of your ropes and ratchets tied properly onto the tent and frame because if they are loose or drape onto the floor someone can trip or get caught on it and possibly hurt themselves. Another way to secure your canopy is to tie tent sandbags on the canopy legs. Tent sandbags wrap around the leg and they weigh the canopy down an extra 25 pounds on each leg and they look nice compared to a normal sandbag. A normal sandbag is not a good option because they not only look bad, but they are also a trip hazard because they are big and take up too much space (like the milk gallons or cement blocks) to anyone walking near the canopy.Finally, one of the other ways to secure a tent is to tie it down with a ballast on each leg, which might be overkill because we recommend 25 pounds of weight be added to each leg and a ballast weighs 350 pounds. We do have customers who need ballast to make sure their canopies are completely secure but they are also planning to secure their canopy tents for more long term projects instead of a pop up canopy that is going to be transported and installed multiple times. Disney actually uses ballast on all of the canopies we provided them with because they cannot afford to have injuries, nor catastrophes in which tents could start flying into the air. Once again though, we want to make sure people know that ballast are more of a long term solution as opposed to portable weights. Below is a video on why it is important to secure your promotional items.
Are There Any More Canopy Hazards?
Now as far as safety goes, we know that making sure a canopy doesn't fly away with a gust of wind is not the only way to be safe. Tents can be placed in hazardous positions and places where they can catch fire as well. Fire safety is a serious subject so we have gone ahead and made sure that all of our canopies are CSFM 701 certified and NFPA certified, but that doesn't mean they are indestructible. We have been manufacturing our canopies for more than 20 years and we use materials to create a canopy with fire-retardant in it so it can prevent fire from spreading everywhere onto a canopy if it does come in contact with fire. Fire hazards are of serious concern to the NFPA and they operate in the entire U.S. so any canopy that is installed in the U.S. has to be NFPA certified. If not a canopy has to undergo inspection and it has to be approved by local fire marshals. They then give you a certificate that approves your canopy based on an event to event basis and it has to be inspected every time, or you could purchase a canopy with a fire marshal approval seal on it like ours. We have also seen many canopies which are not CSFM or NFPA approved and they are usually companies trying to save a couple of dollars by using cheaper materials and we believe that to be deceitful to the buyer since some still place their stamp of approval on these canopies. Every single canopy that has a fire marshal approval stamp on it also includes a license number that was granted to each canopy company so if you want to check when they last received their fire marshal seal you can call the local fire marshal and have them look up your seal approval number. We go the extra mile and use CFSM and NFPA approved materials because we want to make sure the canopies we manufacture are safe. Below we list some tips on how to be safe around fire hazards.
If a lighting system is not installed safely, then there is a possibility that a fire could break out from within a canopy (due to the lighting system, not the canopy). Lighting should be safe and simple. For lighting kits we have created a system that is safe to use while saving you time, headaches, and storage space. LED Canopy Lights are easy to use because they use no cables and they can be installed in a matter of minutes. They have rechargeable batteries that can be charged in 8 hours and they last for 8 hours at full capacity and 36 hours if they are set to half capacity. At the same time you will be able to illuminate your canopy within minutes as opposed to setting up the canopy and adding a lighting system that is hard to install and use and having it be possibly dangerous. So do not place a canopy near an open flame, fireworks, or near a faulty electrical system.
We strongly believe canopy tents should not be utilized during extreme, severe, or dangerous weather conditions. High winds, heavy snowfall and other unmanageable weather conditions are not safe enough to set up a canopy. We also believe you should only use the canopies if you are an adult and if a minor were to be using the canopy we recommend it be under adult supervision or with the help of an adult who understands these safety guidelines. Be mindful of the canopy's surrounding and keep an eye out for anything that could potentially damage the canopy or make the canopy unsafe for anyone in it. When installing a canopy it's a good idea to have a buddy so you do not strain yourself. Some of our bigger canopies will require the help from someone so that installing it is easier, if not you might installing a canopy a bit more difficult. Also, if you have any further questions about canopy safety feel free to give us a call or email us and we will be happy to help.