Playground Safety
Each
year, over 200,000 children are injured on the nation's playgrounds.
148,000 of these injuries involve playground equipment, and most are the
result of falls. Here are some easy
steps you can take to make sure the child in your care is safe when playing at a
park or home playground:
1.
Make sure adult supervision is present at the playground.
More than 40 percent of playground injuries may be in some
way related to inadequate supervision. Adults
need to watch for potential hazards, observe children playing, intercede and
facilitate play when necessary and be available in case an injury occurs.
2.
Guide children to play on age-appropriate equipment.
Children are developmentally different.
Therefore, equipment designed for children ages 5 to 12 is too big for
children ages 2 to 5. Different
playing areas for each of the age groups should be available and children should
only play on their age-appropriate equipment.
3.
Survey the play area and make sure it is free of apparent hazards.
Visually
survey the area and check to see that there are no apparent immediate hazards.
Hazards range from broken glass or metal pieces lying around to
playground design that creates congestion among the play equipment where
children could collide or fall on each other.
If the area is near a street or parking lot, make sure there is fencing
to prevent the children from running in front of cars.
Look for signs designating the separate play areas for 2 to 5 and 5 to 12
year olds. Be sure that metal
equipment is in shaded areas or has a protective surface to prevent burns.
4.
Check the playground surface for cushioned surfacing beneath equipment
and its fall areas.
Falls to surfaces are responsible for more than 70 percent of the
injuries sustained on playgrounds. Improper
surfacing is the leading cause of many of those injuries. Hard surfaces such as
asphalt, blacktop, concrete, grass, packed dirt or rocks should not be used.
A fall to those surfaces could be life threatening.
Acceptable surfaces include hardwood fiber/mulch, pea gravel and sand.
Other options include synthetic surfaces such as rubber tiles, mats or
poured surfaces. Surfaces should be
maintained to a depth proportionate to the height of equipment.
A good guideline would be to use 12-inches of loose fill, such as mulch,
pea gravel or sand, for equipment up to eight feet in height.
Manufacturers of synthetic surfaces should make recommendations of the
depth of their products depending on equipment height.
5.
Examine equipment such as ladders, platforms and steps.
Climbers and monkey bars are popular equipment that
promotes strength and coordination skills. However,
they also have the highest incidence of injury on public playgrounds and need to
be closely supervised. Check to see
if steps on climbers are in good condition and that handrails have appropriate
grip sizes for children. If the
climber has a platform, it should be surrounded with a guardrail or protective
barrier. The choice of protection
depends on the age level of children using the equipment and the height of the
platform. For platforms for younger
children, the guardrails and protective barriers should be at least 29"
high; for school-aged children, the barriers should be at least 38" high.
6.
Survey types and quality of swings.
Swings also
are favorite equipment that need close observation.
They are the pieces of moving equipment that are most likely to cause
injuries. For preventative measures,
the following changes are suggested: remove animal swings; remove metal or
wooden seats and replace with soft seats; make sure swings are on a separate
framework rather than attached to other equipment.
Only two swings should be placed in each bay (or framework) that supports
the swings. Swings should be
positioned at least 24" apart at the base of the seats and 30" from
any supports. Swings should have a
fall zone that is twice the height of the pivot or swing hanger in front and in
back of the swing seats. For
example, if the hanger pivot height is 10 feet, the fall zone must be 20 feet in
front and 20 feet in back of the swing seat.
The fall zone also should extend six feet to each side of the support
structure.
7.
Check out the slides. Slides
should be well anchored, have firm handrails for gripping and steps with good
traction. Steps should have drainage
holes to make them less slippery. There
should be no spaces between the slide platform and the slide bed where strings
from clothing could catch and cause strangulation.
Make sure metal slides are shaded or covered to prevent burns in hot sun.
8.
Review the seesaw area. Make
sure the handles of the seesaw are secure and of a size and design that children
can grip easily. Check to see if
there is a soft bumper under the bottom of the seat to cushion the hit to the
surface and that all pivot points are covered to prevent pinched fingers.
9.
Inspect the action of merry-go-rounds.
Merry-go-rounds
should be firmly anchored into the ground and have handles for children to grasp
easily. The surface under the bed of
the merry-go-round should be positioned so that children cannot slide
underneath. The gear box should be
covered so fingers cannot get caught. Finally,
a governor should be attached to control the ultimate speed of the unit.
10.
Be a good neighbor. Be
sure to leave the area in as good a condition as you found it (or better, if you
have spotted problems). Have the
children help you redistribute any loose surfacing that may have been pushed
aside by play back under swings and the bottom of slides.
Close any gates that may be open.
If
you have found problems that you have not been able to handle yourself, contact
the administrator of the play area to suggest changes and point out problems.
If an injury occurred, make sure to contact the administrator of the play
area and report the injury, the condition of the play area at the time, and any
factors that may have been related to the incident.
Courtesy: The National Program for Playground Safety