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Playground mats do more than break a kid's fall
Filed under: Toddlers Preschoolers, Preschoolers, Big Kids, Activities: Babies, Health & Safety: Babies, In The News
Playgrounds have changed a lot since I was a kid. Metal play equipment bolted onto hard concrete pads are a thing of the past. Today, playgrounds are made to be safe, with plastic equipment set atop cushioned surfaces designed to make sure nobody gets hurt while having a good time. For the most part, the changes are a good thing. But while kids may not be leaving layers of skin behind on the boiling hot slides or pavement, the sun can still heat a playground up to a dangerous level.
Anne Casson, a mom in Brooklyn, found this out when her toddler son's bare foot met the rubber safety mat covering a Brooklyn, New York playground. "He stepped onto the black mats and was screaming hysterically," Casson said. "When I picked him up, the skin was just hanging off his feet." That poor child spent four days in the hospital on morphine.
Although a spokesperson for New York's Parks Department says there were no similar incidents reported at any of the city's other playgrounds, doctors say it isn't uncommon. Two city hospital burn units say they see 16-18 young patients each year suffering from playground burns, mostly from the mats placed under junglegyms and slides.
In the hot summer months, those rubber mats can heat up to 165 degrees or more - hot enough to burn the skin in seconds. The city of New York insists their playgrounds are safe and that they have no plans to remove the mats or replace them with the CPSC- recommended lighter-colored ones.
Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates is outraged. "It is unconscionable that the city continues to install products in playgrounds that hurt the most vulnerable park users - small children," he said. "How many more have to get hurt until someone is held accountable?"
Anne Casson, a mom in Brooklyn, found this out when her toddler son's bare foot met the rubber safety mat covering a Brooklyn, New York playground. "He stepped onto the black mats and was screaming hysterically," Casson said. "When I picked him up, the skin was just hanging off his feet." That poor child spent four days in the hospital on morphine.
Although a spokesperson for New York's Parks Department says there were no similar incidents reported at any of the city's other playgrounds, doctors say it isn't uncommon. Two city hospital burn units say they see 16-18 young patients each year suffering from playground burns, mostly from the mats placed under junglegyms and slides.
In the hot summer months, those rubber mats can heat up to 165 degrees or more - hot enough to burn the skin in seconds. The city of New York insists their playgrounds are safe and that they have no plans to remove the mats or replace them with the CPSC- recommended lighter-colored ones.
Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates is outraged. "It is unconscionable that the city continues to install products in playgrounds that hurt the most vulnerable park users - small children," he said. "How many more have to get hurt until someone is held accountable?"
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 2)
7-23-2008 @ 4:14PM
Eileen said...Hi Chris, I will gladly respond to you because you were polite and repectful. I actually happen to agree completely with you and many others who have commented about the mats not being safe. When I first posted I was pressed for time and just stated the obvious that the children should have had shoes on and did not have time to elaborate. Where I live in Jersey we do not have the mats, not where I go anyway, and think it would be much safer for kids if the mats were replaced , clearly, the mats are not the safest. Like I said before, I was short on time and couldn't finish my thoughts, but got attacked right away. It's o.k. to disagree with someone, but there is no reason to get so nasty and make it personal like some people do on here, it shows lack of character. Hope you understand my position better, thanks!
7-23-2008 @ 6:17PM
Mike said...That's it! I am going to make sure that my kid is duck taped from head to toe with pillows from the living room to ensure its safety. Bring on all cars, glass, child abductors, heights, and what not... my kid will be safe!
Reply
7-23-2008 @ 6:17PM
Big Mike said...That's it! I am going to make sure that my kid is duck taped from head to toe with pillows from the living room to ensure its safety. Bring on all cars, glass, child abductors, heights, and what not... my kid will be safe!
Reply
7-25-2008 @ 3:51PM
Shannon Amy Stockwell said...This is a horrific thing that has happened, and I hear about related incidents quite often. I offer a few suggestions at www.playgroundmag.com. It is the story of the day. Please feel free to visit the website.
Reply
7-28-2008 @ 10:13AM
Cal Hiker said...Each of these playgrounds has signs posted everywhere saying, "FOOTWEAR MUST BE WORN AT ALL TIMES". The people who let their child go barefoot on the hot rubber surface ignored this, as well as common sense, and now they are trying to blame "the city" for this accident.
Reply
9-29-2008 @ 6:07PM
April Krutsinger said...It isn't fair to expect children to always wear shoes. I spent whole summer's hunting down a pair of shoes only to accompany a parent to the store. The worst thing that ever happened to me were a few bee stings.
Does the grass or even dirt ever get so hot it can cause a childs skin fall off after seconds of exposure! So the question of should parks switch the substrate seems easy, sadly anything that has cost isn't an option.
Conversly, skin burns on the feet of young children heal quite well with proper treatment. This child is proably just fine now...but as many a wise parents knows kids get hurt. My 3yr old son ran through an abandoned fire on a private riverside beach, he had several spots with full thickness burns and a 1 1/2 later you can barely tell.
I can't tell you how much I wished I had put his boots back on him after his nap, but I am so glad I hadn't put on his mesh water shoes, which would have melted into his feet and caused deep tissue damage when they had to cut the melted plastic out of his flesh. I am also greatful he didn't sink into, or fall into what tuned out to be hot coals over 12in deep.
Do I lack common sense? Accidents happen, we can't always protect our children, that's scary, but it's the truth!
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