National Playground Safety Week
Categories: Places to go, Health & safety, Toys & games
The grass is greening, the trees are budding and red and yellow tulips are popping up everywhere. It must be Spring! Along with Mother Nature's show, one of the most reliable indicators that Spring has actually sprung is the sounds of children out and about in the neighborhood again. And just in time for the warmer weather, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued their updated Public Playground Safety Handbook (pdf).
According to the CPSC, public playgrounds see more than 156,000 injuries each year requiring emergency room treatment. April 21-25 is National Playground Safety Week and the CPSC wants to remind parents, teachers, childcare personnel, school officials, playground designers and inspectors what to look for when evaluating the safety of playground equipment.
The handbook is quite technical and geared more towards those who build playgrounds than those who play on them. But for parents, the CPSC offers these tips to keep in mind to avoid injuries when hitting the playground:
According to the CPSC, public playgrounds see more than 156,000 injuries each year requiring emergency room treatment. April 21-25 is National Playground Safety Week and the CPSC wants to remind parents, teachers, childcare personnel, school officials, playground designers and inspectors what to look for when evaluating the safety of playground equipment.
The handbook is quite technical and geared more towards those who build playgrounds than those who play on them. But for parents, the CPSC offers these tips to keep in mind to avoid injuries when hitting the playground:
- Always supervise children on play equipment to make sure they are safe.
- Purchase playground equipment that meets the latest safety standards.
- Maintain at least 9 inches of protective surfacing, including shredded/recycled rubber, wood chips, wood mulch (non-CCA treated), sand or pea gravel under and around playground equipment to cushion children from falls.
- Check that protective surfacing extends at least 6 feet in all directions from play equipment. For swings, extend protective surfacing in front and back of the swing, twice the height of the suspending bar.
- Repair sharp points or edges on equipment. Replace missing hardware and close "S" hooks that can cause injuries.
- Never attach ropes, jump ropes, clotheslines, pet leashes or cords of any kind to play equipment due to the strangulation hazard.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rob O. 4-21-2008 @ 5:15PM
While I appreciate some the measures that've been put into place - like mulch underneath the play equipment and thick baked-on coating on all metal bars and parts - it makes me sad how much of the playground has been removed entirely due to "safety" concerns. I especially hate that my son won't ever get to play on a merry go round.
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Judy 4-22-2008 @ 4:17PM
Our local playground still has a merry-go-round. I was shocked when I moved here and found that. I had a friend who had a very bad broken leg in kindergarten from getting caught under a merry-go-round, and ours at school (where she was hurt) was removed shortly after that.
Still, I allow my boys (4 and 2)to play on it as long as I'm close by. I don't let it get going too fast and stay close. If there are older kids on it, I don't let the 2 yo on, and tell the 4 yo to stay in the middle and hold on!
Kids can hurt - even seriously hurt - on just about anything. I'm all for safety measures, keep my kids in their car seats, do what needs to be done, but so much of it comes down to common sense.
I read something recently, too, from a British doctor's group (maybe it was here on PD) that said they are seeing lots more serious injuries in kids that should have been minor, because parents are watching their kids so closely and not allowing them to play and get the minor injuries, so the kids don't know how to FALL or protect themselves from getting a serious injury. My boys are maniacs, and get bumps and bruises all the time, but so far we've had nothing serious, and I'm going to keep letting them climb up the slides, spin on the merry-go-round and play like little boys do, and should!
queenoqueens 4-22-2008 @ 1:31PM
One tip for everyone that I learned the hard way early this spring. If you ride down the slide with a toddler on your lap, be extra careful to not let their little legs/feet get caught between your leg and the slide. It didn't even occur to me to watch out for this, but my daughter's foot got stuck and caused her be injured, thankfully not seriously. She recovered, but during the trip to the doctor, I learned this is a fairly common injury, and if it's really bad it can't result in a spiral fracture of the leg that would require full leg cast. And that's not a fun way to spend the summer.
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