Playgrounds serve as a key attraction that families look for in city parks, but unless they are designed and maintained appropriately they can also become a source of injuries for children and can lead to lawsuits for municipalities. The best way for officials to keep this from happening is to make certain they are following appropriate industry standards.
A few safety documents have emerged as industry standards for playgrounds:
- The Consumer Products Safety Commission’s Public Playground Safety Handbook.
- The American Society for Testing and Materials’ Standard Consumer Specification for Playground Equipment for Public Use.
Following these standards can be critical for avoiding legal and financial risks. Evidence that a playground owner did not adhere to these standards was considered admissible by the South Carolina Supreme Court in Elledge v. Richland/Lexington School District Five. The case involved a slip-and-fall injury in which a child broke her leg, ultimately suffering complications that required significant surgery. The trial that followed revealed that the monkey bar equipment involved had been modified according to the recommendations of a playground equipment sales representative who did not have training or an engineering license.
Here are some important takeaways from the standards:
Assess current and future equipment
Cities and towns should formally review playground facilities for potential hazards, looking for the foreseeable ways that equipment will be used by park guests and the steps needed to keep it safe to use. By using the published guidelines, they can determine whether equipment is safely designed, assembled and maintained.
Playground facilities need to an inspection for safety issues at least once a month, and more often during high-use periods like the summer. Whenever possible, parks departments should use a safety inspector certified by the National Recreation and Park Association.
Use a preventive maintenance program
Document all inspection findings and maintenance performed. Correct any identified hazards.
Use safety signage
Make sure that playground equipment has proper signage providing direction and warnings are clearly visible and easily understood — even by those for whom English is not a first language.
Consumer Product Safety Commission Public Playground Safety Checklist
The commission offers a brief checklist to determine critical playground safety issues. Here are its checkboxes:
- Make sure surfaces around playground equipment have at least 12 inches of wood chips, mulch, sand or pea gravel; or are mats made of safety-tested rubber or rubber-like materials.
- Check that protective surfacing extends at least 6 feet in all directions from play equipment. For swings, be sure surfacing extends — in front and back — twice the height of the suspending bar.
- Make sure play structures more than 30 inches high are spaced 9 feet apart.
- Check for dangerous hardware, like open “S” hooks or protruding bolt ends.
- Make sure spaces that could trap children, such as openings in guardrails or between ladder rungs, measure less than 3.5 inches or more than 9 inches.
- Check for sharp points or edges in equipment.
- Look for tripping hazards, like exposed concrete footings, tree stumps and rocks.
- Make sure elevated surfaces, like platforms and ramps, have guardrails to prevent falls.
- Check playgrounds regularly to see that equipment and surfacing are in good condition.
The SC Municipal Insurance and Risk Financing Fund provides a parks and recreation toolkit for its members. In addition to playground safety issues, it addresses concerns of parks and recreation personnel, the liability issues involved in fees and supervision, sports programs and other facility guidelines.