Playground Safety
Each year, more than 200,000 children go to U.S. hospital emergency rooms with injuries associated with playground equipment, this equates to one child being injured every two and a half minutes. Most injuries occur when a child falls from the equipment onto the ground. Many backyard play-sets are placed on dirt or grass–surfaces that do not adequately protect children when they fall. REMSA would like to remind parents of some important safety tips regarding playgrounds and their children.
Quick Checklist for Parents:
Place this list in a prominent area of your home for quick reference. Then, before your children head out the door for the playground, check that:
Supervision is present, but strings and ropes aren’t.
- Adult presence is needed to watch for potential hazards, observe, intercede and facilitate play when necessary. Strings on clothing or ropes used for play can cause accidental strangulation if caught on equipment.
All children play on age-appropriate equipment.
- Preschoolers, ages 2 – 5, and children, ages 5 – 12, are developmentally different and need different equipment located in separate areas to keep the playground safe and fun for all.
Falls to surface are cushioned.
- Nearly 70 percent of all playground injuries are related to falls to the surface. Acceptable surfaces include hardwood fiber/mulch, pea gravel, sand and synthetic materials such as poured-in-place, rubber mats or tiles. Playground surfaces should not be concrete, asphalt, grass, blacktop, packed dirt or rocks.
Equipment is safe.
- Check to make sure the equipment is anchored safely in the ground, all equipment pieces are in good working order, S-hooks are entirely closed, bolts are not protruding, there are no exposed footings, etc.
Occurrence and Consequences:
- About 45% of playground-related injuries are severe—fractures, internal injuries, concussions, dislocations, and amputations.
- About 75% of nonfatal injuries related to playground equipment occur on public playgrounds. Most occur at schools and daycare centers.
- Between 1990 and 2000, 147 children ages 14 and younger died from playground-related injuries. Of them, 82 (56%) died from strangulation and 31 (20%) died from falls to the playground surface. Most of these deaths (70%) occurred on home playgrounds.
- In 1995, playground-related injuries among children ages 14 and younger cost an estimated $1.2 billion (Office of Technology Assessment 1995).
- While all children who use playgrounds are at risk for injury, girls sustain injuries (55%) slightly more often than boys (45%) (Tinsworth 2001).
- Children ages 5 to 9 have higher rates of emergency department visits for playground injuries than any other age group. Most of these injuries occur at school (Phelan 2001).