SAFETY STANDARDS FOR PLAY GROUND EQUIPMENT
Playgrounds and outdoor play equipment can provide your child with fun, fresh air, and exercise, but they can also pose some safety hazards. Faulty equipment, substandard and improper surfaces, wrong materials used and careless planning are just a few of the dangers that cause children on playgrounds to visit hospital emergency departments. Each year, more than 200,000 kids are treated in hospital ERs for playground-related injuries. Many of these injuries could have been prevented simply by using the right kind of play ground equipment that meet with international standards.
You can make the playground a place that's entertaining and safe for your child by checking equipment for potential hazards and following some simple safety guidelines. In addition, teaching your child how to play safely is important: if your child knows the rules of the playground, it's less likely he or she will get hurt.
The majority of these injuries occur among elementary school-aged children (2-5). The most common mechanism of injury is falling from equipment or cuts and bruises from substandard equipment for children younger than five years of age, the head and face are most commonly injured. However, in older children, the extremities are most frequently injured.
The most common diagnoses are fractures, followed by soft tissue injuries and lacerations.
Prevention strategies
Because the majority of playground injuries are due to falls from equipment, prevention efforts should be directed at reducing the risk of falls and their impact. This reduction may be accomplished by the following.
- Reduce the maximum fall height of equipment. Strategies include:
- Ensure that you have playgrounds to reduce the fall height to a maximum of 1.5 m (5 ft) for preschool-aged children and 2.3 m (7 ft) for school-aged children;
- using innovative designs for new equipment with lower heights; and
- using age-appropriate equipment.
- Reduce the likelihood of falling from equipment. Some examples include:
- using protective barriers and guardrails;
- using vertical rather than horizontal bars (discourages climbing);
- using peaked or curved surfaces for guardrails (discourages use as a play surface); and
- Ensuring that adults are actively supervising.
- Improve the protective surfacing under and around play equipment. Appropriate surfaces include:
- loose fill, such as coarse sand or pea gravel (smooth, round, pea-sized stones);
- wood chips; and
- Synthetic surfaces.
Depth recommendations for loose fill: minimum of 15 cm (6 inches) for preschool equipment; minimum of 30 cm (12 inches) for full-sized equipment.
There are recommended guidelines for public playgrounds. These standards were first issued in 1990 (9) and were revised in 1998 (10). These standards are intended to improve playground safety and reduce the frequency and severity of playground injuries. Many Indian playgrounds do not comply with these standards, which if done will surely be effective in reducing the risk of injury and enhance child safety.
AT KOOCHIE WOULD LIKE TO SHARE A CHECK LIST WITH A FEW TIPS THAT YOU MAY LIKE TO CONSIDER PRIOR TO DECIDING WHAT KIND OF PLAYGROUND
YOU WOULD LIKE FOR YOUR PRESTIGIOUS PROJECT
- SAFETY CHECK: -
Does The Playground system you intend to buy, comply with ‘INTERTNATIONAL SAFETY STANDARDS’? Remember little children are going to be using these, Safety standards if not met can prove a catastrophe waiting to happen. Your systems used, must be age appropriate considering max deck heights etc. Reputed suppliers will always install a SAFETY PLAQUE detailing system usage norms at your playground site, check with your supplier regarding this.
- QUALITY CHECK: -
Quality goes hand in hand with safety. Metal parts must undergo all internationally prescribed treatment procedures to ensure that they will not rust or corrode over a period of time. Rust & Corrosion are major hazards to child play.
- DESIGN CHECK:-
Design is as important to safety as it is to aesthetics. Your playground supplier must be able to back his systems with an in house design team that is well trained in terms of designing base plan layouts with safe areas, exit points, fall points, etc. Your playground supplier must themselves be well educated about prevailing international safety norms prior to designing your base plan.
- AESTHETICS CHECK:-
Your playground is the first outdoor amenity that will meet the eye of any prospective buyer. Very obviously your playground supplier must be able to deliver to you unique designs, vibrant colours, and most importantly a system that WILL NOT RUST, CORRODE or DETIRIORATE over a period of time which will then become an eyesore to your project. ASK YOUR VENDORS TO SUBMIT THEIR SECTIONS FOR TESTING, THIS IS AN EXERCISE WELL WORTH as many people will sell you systems at a cheap price that will then deteriorate in 1 or 2 years.
- CHECK WHAT RAW MATERIAL IS USED:-
A reputed playground brand should be able to give you detailed specifications about what kind of raw material they use in their systems. Check what kind of treatment has their metal parts undergone [ask for sections to substantiate their claims], Check if they have used any fibre glass [this is a banned product world over for use in children’s equipment], check if they use recycled plastic this will bring your systems life down by 1/4th as compared to virgin LLPDE, again ask your supplier to authenticate all this.
- CHECK THE SUPPIER’s BACKGROUND:-
As mentioned earlier, children are going to use these products. Avoid buying your systems from “fly by night operators” who sell their products cheap, as they will not be found tomorrow if you have a safety or quality issue. Avoid suppliers who try and sell you Annual Maintenance Contracts, as any system requiring an AMC every year, most definitely do not meet “stipulated international standards”. Check what kind of projects & installations have already been completed by your supplier, this will give you in-depth knowledge on their track record. Suppliers whose products are being sold in western international markets have to ensure their products pass through EN Certifications prior to their products entering these markets. Using such brands / suppliers ensures that the systems you buy have also passed through ENC.
- CHECK THE SUPPLIERS INSTALLATION INFRASTRUCTURE:-
A playground system could be extremely dangerous if not installed properly. Remember children are not “trained users”. If a playground has not been installed by a trained / knowledgeable installation team it could come apart and hurt a child. Again check track records on your suppliers installation team, ask for references.
- WARRANTY CHECK:-
Check your supplier’s warranty. If your suppliers warranty includes an AMC it means that he needs to repaint your system every year. This means the metal has not undergone all necessary treatments and will rust or corrode. Check who is giving you the warranty? Warranty received from an importer or an agent is a third party warranty, this means he has to fall back upon the principal he is importing from, he may or may not continue to import from a single factory the next year, such warranties seldom make sense as if a part is to be replaced you will be at the mercy of “relying upon their reliance”. Warranties that you get directly from Brand assures you of ready replacement parts locally stocked etc.
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