A mother has accused indoor playground Kiztopia Marina Square of serious safety lapses after her seven-year-old child was allegedly injured by a sharp thumbtack while playing barefoot, suffering a puncture wound that bled heavily.
The incident was shared in an Instagram post on Tuesday (3 Feb) by Ms Jiao, 38, who works in the legal industry.
In her post, she warned other parents against visiting the outlet, describing the incident as a “shocking display of negligence”.
Source: @yjjy1031 on Instagram
Speaking to MS News, Ms Jiao shared that the incident occurred on 31 Jan at about 10.29am, shortly after her family arrived at Kiztopia Marina Square for a party session scheduled from 10am to 1pm.
Source: Marina Square, for illustration purposes only
Her child was playing barefoot, as required within the play area, when she allegedly stepped on a hard, 1.2cm-long thumbtack or pushpin that was on the floor.
Ms Jiao said her child’s foot was “severely punctured and bleeding”.
Image courtesy of Ms Jiao
Ms Jiao alleged that no staff member offered first aid following the injury.
“No staff helped with first aid and we cleaned the injury by ourselves,” she said.
When she approached a female staff member for assistance, Ms Jiao claimed the first response she received was: “Did you sign the waiver?”
“That made me feel very upset,” she said.
She added that during the four hours her family remained at the premises, no manager or person in charge came forward to address the incident.
In her Instagram post, Ms Jiao criticised what she described as an “insulting” form of compensation.
She alleged that upon leaving the premises, her child was offered either a free ice cream or additional play time, which she felt did not reflect the seriousness of the injury.
Image courtesy of Ms Jiao
Ms Jiao also said that days after the incident, the matter was still “under investigation” with no clear resolution.
“So far, only one operations manager contacted me via WhatsApp and told me it is under management review,” she said.
Image courtesy of Ms Jiao
Ms Jiao also shared screenshots with MS News of negative reviews from Xiaohongshu, including one alleging that a child suffered a bleeding scalp from an accident at the same outlet.
She said comments under her post suggested that similar incidents may have occurred previously.
Screenshots courtesy of Ms Jiao
“It seems like there have been many accidents there, but Kiztopia doesn’t treat this seriously at all,” she said.
In response to media queries from MS News, Kiztopia said it was aware of the incident and described it as “deeply concerning”.
“We take this matter very seriously and have approached it with urgency, care, transparency, and empathy,” the company said in a press release seen by MS News and issued on Saturday (7 Feb).
Kiztopia added that its management team had “remained in close communication with the child’s parent”.
Source: Google Maps, for illustration purposes only
The company said staff provided onsite first aid, including plasters, after the child reported pain, and that checks were conducted in the surrounding area.
A sharp foreign object was later found in the party room and shared with the parent as a possible cause of the injury.
Kiztopia said it has since discontinued the use of sharp objects for decorations and has strengthened its cleaning protocols, safety audits, and staff training.
“We sincerely apologise for the distress this has caused,” said Kiztopia CEO Heidi Tian, adding that the company remains committed to improving safety safeguards moving forward.
Kiztopia also said that the child has since “fully recovered”.
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Featured image adapted from Googles Maps (for illustration purposes only) and courtesy of Ms Jiao.