 Playground Loss Control: 10 Steps To A Safer Facility By Geoffrey Persten |
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U.S. hospitals and emergency rooms treat some 200,000 of our children every year for injuries caused by playground-related activities. Of these, a small percentage result in the death of the youngster. Most, however, run the gamut from minor scrapes and abrasions all the way up to serious, debilitating injuries.
Statistics show that a great percentage of playground injuries result from falls, either to the ground or from one piece of equipment to another. It stands to reason, then, that from a loss prevention and/or amelioration perspective, we must direct our attention toward both the equipment itself and the ground upon which the equipment rests, as well as other factors that affect potential loss frequency.
What follows is a brief description of some effective loss-reduction techniques that can be applied to playground equipment and the play area environment:
1. PROTECTIVE SURFACING - The surfaces under and around playground equipment should be soft enough to cushion falls. For most play equipment, these surfaces should contain a minimum of 12" of mulch, wood chips, sand or pea gravel. There are also several synthetic materials available from various sources.
2. FALL ZONES - In order to work most effectively in cushioning falls, the shock-absorbing material should extend a minimum of six feet in all directions from the stationery pieces of play equipment. In front of and behind swings, the material should extend a distance equal to twice the height of the suspending bar.
3. EQUIPMENT SPACING - Play structures should be spaced at least 12 feet apart so as to allow children space to circulate or fall without striking another structure or child. Moving pieces of equipment should be located in an area away from other play structures so children have adequate room to pass from one play area to another without being struck by, for example, a moving swing or by another child exiting from a slide.
4. CATCH POINTS AND PROTRUDING HARDWARE - Equipment should not have dangerous pieces of hardware such as protruding bolt ends and narrow gaps in metal connections or open "S" hooks at the top and bottom of swings. Exposed hardware can cause cuts, punctures or catch clothing.
5. OPENINGS THAT CAN TRAP - Openings between ladder rungs, in gaurdrails and spaces between platforms should measure less than 3.5" or more than 9". Children can get trapped and strangle in openings where they can fit their bodies but not their heads through the space.
6. PINCHING, CRUSHING, SHEARING, AND SHARP HAZARDS - Equipment should not have sharp points or edges that could cut skin. Moving pieces of equipment such as suspension bridges, track rides, merry-go-rounds and seesaws, should not have accessible moving parts that might crush or pinch a child's fingers or toes.
7. TRIPPING HAZARDS - The playground should have no exposed concrete footings, abrupt changes in surface elevations, tree roots, stumps and rocks, which can trip children or adults.
8. GUARDRAILS - Elevated surfaces such as platforms, ramps and bridgeways, should have guardrails to prevent falls.
9. ROUTINE MAINTENANCE - This includes, on a regular, scheduled basis (ideally, daily): replacing missing, broken or worn-out components; securing hardware; checking for deterioration in the wood, metal or plastic materials; maintaining proper depth of the surfacing material; cleaning up debris.
10. SUPERVISION - Responsible supervision is a must so that adults can observe children at play.
Generally, these ten steps will go a long way toward making any playground safer. Of course, each case warrants a specific approach to loss control based upon its individual characteristics. | |||
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Geoffrey Persten is vice president of TIS and has over 16 years of loss
prevention experience. His timely articles appear bi-monthly in TIS Express.
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