Firms are being urged to ensure that any equipment they use has adequate safety precautions, following an accident in which several members of the public were injured.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned both employers and the self-employed to make sure that any equipment they hire out comes with warnings about how to use it, which may apply to public liability insurance customers.
In addition, the organisation stated that companies which are setting up equipment for others should take extra care to secure it.
The warning comes after Shrewsbury operator Robert Andrew Phinn was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £500 in costs by Oswestry magistrates court after a piece of inflatable equipment he set up blew away in high conditions and hit several bystanders, injuring some severely.
Recently, the HSE advised construction workers to take extra precautions when operating devices such as top cutting machines, after launching an investigation into a fatal incident involving one, which highlights the need for public liability insurance.