Every year, emergency departments treat more than 200,000 children aged 14 and under for playground-related injuries, and about 61% of these injuries occur on public playgrounds. As the school year begins and the frequency of playground use increases, playground safety becomes especially important.
Preparation and Awareness
Safety preparation begins with maintenance. Make sure that playground inspections are thorough and that maintenance staff completes a checklist and report of any repairs that may be required. This is helpful in the event of an accident, but also gives the inspector an idea of what to look for. The burden of checking equipment shouldn’t stop with maintenance crews, either. Any adult in charge of monitoring a playground should look for potential danger.
While checklists should be designed with the specific site in mind, here are some of the points that you might want to include:
Awareness applies to understanding where the danger exists with playground equipment. This is vital information for anyone performing maintenance reviews, but also with teachers and other playground attendants. Accidents most commonly occur with climbing equipment, swings, slides, and monkey bars, in that order. Take extra care when inspecting and monitoring these structures to limit the risk of the associated injuries. Here are some other risk factors to consider:
- On average, boys sustain more playground injuries treated by emergency departments than girls. 55% compared to 45%.
- Children between the ages of 5 and 9 have higher rates of emergency department visits for playground injuries than any other age group.
- Children below the age of 5 are more likely to be injured on swings and slides, whereas children over the age of 5 are injured most on swings, monkey bars, and climbing equipment.
Education
Because nearly 40% of playground injuries are associated with a lack of supervision and 32% of the time, children are playing on school playgrounds without supervision, it’s important that they also be educated on safety, as well. Children should be taught the proper use of all of the equipment on the playground and how to read any warning signs that apply.
For more information on playground safety, consult the Public Playground Safety Handbook and to begin developing a proactive and thorough checklist, work with your claims department.
All information and statistics were gathered from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
