Public Playground Safety Program

Every entity that has a playground used by the public needs a Public Playground Safety Program. You’re probably thinking “just what I need more paper work”. Well yes, but well worth the effort. Here’s what a well crafted Public Playground Safety Program will do for you;

• 1. Provide a layer of defense in the case of litigation due to a child being injured on the playground.
• 2. Keep the children on your playground as safe as possible while still providing all the positive benefits of a playground.
• 3. Extend the life of your play equipment.

When you consider the financial and intangible rewards for a small investment of time the paper work seems worthwhile. If this has prompted you to consider implementing a Playground Safety Policy this next section should help.

This information is not intended to be and should not be considered legal advice.

Elements of an effective Public Playground Safety Program

This section is based on information from the book Playground Safety is no Accident* published by the National Recreation & Park Association (The Association).

The authors begin by advising against the wholesale removal of noncompliant equipment. What they do suggest is to discuss equipment removal with all interested parties including;

• Risk manager
• Attorney
• Board
• Elected officials
• Community

They warn you should weigh the negative impact of a mass removal of playground equipment vs. potential playground injury. Furthermore they warn public agencies to take action regarding equipment that is known to cause serious injuries or death and non-compliant areas of concern. They go on from there to list the following ten steps to take when developing a Playground Safety Policy. These are abbreviated.

• 1. Identify and correct and/or remove equipment that has caused an injury due to
  • a. Poor maintenance
  • b. Lack of repairs
  • c. Poor design
• 2. Any equipment not recommended for use on public playgrounds should be removed. CPSC and ASTM standard and guidelines should be used for source documents. These include;
  • a. Heavy animal figure swings
  • b. Multiple occupancy swings (excluding tire swings)
  • c. Rope swings
  • d. Swinging exercise rings and trapeze bar swings
  • e. Swinging gate
  • f. Giant strides ( May Pole)
  • g. You should;
    • i. Cover or replace concrete footings
    • ii. Remove cement landing pads in use zones
    • iii. Evaluate older playground equipment for presence of toxic substances
• 3. Make sure you have appropriate levels of safety surfacing
• 4. Identify tall equipment that exceeds the maximum fall height of your surfacing material
• 5. Make sure your use zones and borders are correct
• 6. Begin/improve a regular playground inspection program
• 7. Conduct an audit of each of your playgrounds
• 8. Formalize a playground maintenance program
• 9. Establish a long term plan to upgrade playground sites
• 10. Make sure you have a commitment from everyone involved in playground safety in your community

The authors advise creating the following documents;

• A Playground Safety Policy Statement
• Logic for site inspection schedule
• Inspection forms with instructions
• Procedures for correcting playground safety issues
• Employee requirements
• Staff training guidelines
• Playground document storage guidelines
• Playground signage
• Playground accident investigations

The following documents should be maintained;

• Playground Safety Policy
• Current industry safety guidelines, standards and laws.
• Staff training records
• Individual Playground site history files

It may seem like a lot of work at first but you probably have many of these elements in place. In many cases it’s just a matter of adjusting and documenting. If you have any questions we have resources available that could be helpful. Feel free to contact us.

*Kenneth S. Kutska, CLP, CPSI, Kevin J. Hoffman, ARM, CPSI, Antonio Malkusak, CPSI (2006). Playground Safety is no Accidennt, Third Edition. National Recreation & Park Association.