by Borden Black
Wynnton school children on their
playground
Tire and rope swings, metal jungle gyms and wooden seesaws were standard playground fare when we were growing up. So were scraped knees, bruises and broken bones. We all remember playing on playgrounds in our neighborhood park and at recess in the schoolyard.
Those opportunities for exercise and imagination still exist but they are much more regulated now and much safer. Even so, The National Safety Council reports that more than 200,000 children are injured and approximately 15 children die every year as the result of playground accidents. Every two-and-a-half minutes a child is treated in an emergency room for a playground-related injury according to the National Program for Playground Safety (NPPS).
Coating on
metal parts
prevents
burns.
As they get older and begin to catch themselves when they fall, hand and arm injuries become more prevalent. Fractures are still the number one playground injury, she says, followed by lacerations and contusions. “I think falling on a hard surface, whether pavement or gravel, has a lot to do with it,” Maxwell explained.
City Playgrounds
There are about 20 playgrounds in parks
maintained by the city. Columbus used to
have a seven-man crew responsible for
checking and maintaining them all. Now
there are just three: Essec Joseph, an inmate
and a trainee.
Every day they make visual inspections of the city’s facilities to see if any equipment is broken or torn. They also check to see if any nuts or bolts are loose. They examine the surrounding area to see if the mulch or sand is deep enough so that children won’t get hurt if they fall off an apparatus. Other routine actions include checking for rust or parts that could break off and cut a child’s hand or a broken railing that a child could place his head through. When they find something wrong, it is immediately repaired, replaced or removed.
According to Joseph, they are constantly repairing broken equipment. “Vandalism is the biggest problem: burning and cutting slides, tampering with the screws and bolts and breaking the swings and cutting the seats,” he said.
The crew doesn’t bother to repair old-style equipment. They just remove it or make it inoperable. “Safety standards have changed,” said Joseph. “The only kind of equipment we can install uses pvc and coated metal so that the kids don’t get burned.”
Grab bars should be
the right size for a
child’s hands.
His boss, Phil Naylor, said it’s a neverending job to keep the playgrounds fixed and up-to-date. “We put safety first. We want the kids to have fun, play safely and enjoy themselves, but it is a tough battle.”
Joseph asks parents to call the Parks and Recreation department if they see a broken piece of equipment. “We’ll get out there right away and close it down. Don’t try to fix things because you’ve got to have the right tool or the right bolt.”
He also advises parents to make sure their kids are playing on age-appropriate equipment. The city has signs posted on every major playground that lists for which age group the playground is designed. “The signs are there for a reason. A lot of parents let a child too small get on equipment made for older children,” Joseph said.
The most important safety advice Joseph gives is for children to be under constant observation. He has seen a lot of accidents that could have been prevented by an attentive adult. “There are baby seats in some swing sets and kids that are too big get in them and the fire department has to cut them out. Parents have to check if a child is using the equipment for what it’s supposed to be used for.”
School Playgrounds
About six to eight years ago the Muscogee
County School District instituted routine
playground checks according to Plant
Services Director James Tanksley.
There is a certified playground inspector, John Brooks, who has 39 years of experience. He and his crew are constantly visiting the playgrounds in the district’s 33 elementary schools. “We have a kit to check for entrapment and entanglement,” Brooks said. “We check for protrusions and obstacles on the playground. We make sure the material under the equipment has the right amount of depth to prevent head injuries.”
Covered slides keep
children from
falling
out.
He just completed a re-certification course, which keeps him up to date on out-dated equipment, consumer product safety standards and information on the most common causes of injury. “The most important thing to watch out for is entanglement,” he said. “When kids have coats on and are sliding or hanging, you need to make sure there are no protrusions that their coats can get caught on that would choke them. That is the number one cause of death.” He recommends that children not go to the playground with a hood with drawstrings that could get caught on equipment or a bike helmet that would stick between railings.
In addition to checking for damage, the inspectors look for any equipment that does not comply with the playground safety institute. Tanksley says the district replaces outdated equipment as soon as possible. “We used to have a lot of wooden equipment. We are taking those out now and going with fiberglass and hardened plastic,” Tanksley said. In addition, the inspectors religiously check to make sure the mulch base is at the correct depth so if a child falls, injuries are minimal.
The school district experts echo what the city has found. “The most important thing is supervision on the playground to ensure children use the appropriate pieces of equipment,” said Tanksley. “Most accidents can be avoided.”
Back Yard Playgrounds
While most public playgrounds are constructed
of PVC pipe, plastic and coated
metal, many home and day care play sets
are wooden.
Spencer Cantrell of Action Buildings, which distributes and installs PlayNation sets, says wooden equipment has become a large segment of the market, partially because of its safety. “The material is soft and has rounded edges.” he said. “Because it is heavy, it is stable and won’t tip, and it won’t rust like the old sets,” he explained.
Pea gravel or mulch
helps cushion falls.
The International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA) is a non-profit membership trade association that provides self-regulation for the play set industry. Their certification seal indicates an independent laboratory has validated conformance to certain safety standards.
Cantrell says there are several things you should consider when choosing equipment. Parents should buy the appropriately sized set for their child keeping in mind future growth. A play set with the capability to expand is attractive.
The equipment should meet codes for safety. Some items he points to are: swing chains, which should be welded to prevent pinching and covered to prevent burns; swing seats should mold to the body so the child can’t jump out; slides should be polyethylene so there are no sharp edges; the slide should be molded or covered so the child can’t fall out and platforms need railings or panels with spacing not more than 2 1⁄2 inches apart.
While Cantrell says the manufacturer and installer can insure the safety items are present, there are some things the parents must do. “I try to advise the customer on where to place the set,” he said.
“The ground should be level for stability with no roots or rocks,” said Cantrell. He also advises that a material like mulch, pea gravel or rubber should be placed in the fall zone. That area should be six feet wider than the set so when a child falls or jumps he will land on a soft surface. The most important thing Cantrell suggests is that the set be placed where the parents can easily observe the children at play. “They often want it in the corner or around trees but it needs to be close to the house. Instead of aesthetics, the consumer should be concerned about safety.”
Playgrounds should be a safe haven. While schools, governments and equipment manufacturers do their part to create an environment that will beckon children while improving safety, they all say it is up to the parents to provide the necessary supervision and direction.
Playground Safety Rules
From the National Program for Playground Safety
- Make sure adult supervision is
present at the playground. An estimated
40 percent of playground injuries
may be related to inadequate supervision.
- Guide children to play on age-appropriate
equipment. Because children
are developmentally different,
equipment is designed for different age
groups. There should be signs designating
the separate play areas for 2-5 and 5-12
year olds.
- Survey the play area and make sure
it is free of apparent hazards. Survey
the area for hazards and for playground
design that creates congestion among the
play equipment where children could collide or fall on each other. Be sure that
metal equipment is in shaded areas or has a protective surface to prevent burns.
- 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.
Acceptable surfaces include hardwood
fiber/mulch, pea gravel and sand. The
depth of the material should be proportionate
to the height of the
equipment. It should be
extended a minimum of six
feet in all directions from the
perimeter of the equipment.
- Examine equipment such
as ladders, platforms and
steps. Climbers and monkey
bars 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. Climber platforms should be surrounded with a guardrail or protective barrier.
- Survey types and quality of swings.
Swings are the pieces of moving equipment
most likely to cause injuries. Make sure they are on a separate framework and only two swings should be placed in each bay. Swings should be positioned
at least 24” apart at the base of the seats and 30” from any supports. The
fall zone should be twice the height of the pivot or swing hanger in front and in
back of the swing seats and six feet to each side of the support structure.
- 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. Metal slides should be shaded or covered to prevent burns in hot sun.
