Playground Safety: Too Important to Ignore

Playground Safety is a subject we at Yippy find ourselves talking about more and more often. It wouldn't surprise you to know that there are many playgrounds at schools, creches and public parks all over South Africa.

What might shock you to know however is that Playground Safety in many of those playgrounds is lacking and every year many thousands of children are injured and disabled as a result of accidental injury in playgrounds and according to recent statistics, on average a further ten each year will die. 

The safety of the children who use those playgrounds has only been covered under National Safety Standards fairly recently.

When you consider that Playground Safety Standards have been in use in other parts of the world since the late 1970's and in some countries, as early as 1926 South Africa then, was a little slow but the current National Standards were introduced in 2010:

South African National Standard SANS 51176 parts 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,10 and 11 General requirements and test Methods for playground equipment.

South African National Standard SANS 51177 Surfacing requirements underneath playground equipment

South African National Standard SANS 54960 Inflatable amusement and play equipment - Safety requirements and test methods

Here at Yippy, we work hard to ensure we comply to the standards but we still almost daily find aspects of the many playgrounds we visit in Johannesburg and surrounding areas to be lacking.

With this in mind we hope to use this article to enlighten others in our field, as well as our parents and teachers out there, on the relevant and very serious aspects that are involved in keeping our children safe, whilst they play in their playgrounds.

The following points are a combination of our suggestions and aspects covered by both National and International Safety Standards.

Any of us who are either responsible for designing and installing playgrounds and playground equipment BUT ALSO any child carer, any parent or teacher or any other person who is responsible for a child or children playing in a playground should familiarise themselves with the following; 

 

1. Proper Surfacing

A massive 70% of all playground accidents are as a result of falling, so correct surfacing under playground items is top of our list. Ideally any structure with a highest standing or sitting point of over 50cm should be installed with impact absorbing surfacing to a minimum depth of 30cm. Acceptable surfaces are hardwood fibre/mulch, sand, rubber chips or matting and any surface must drain and be kept clear of debris etc. Grass, artificial or natural, is NOT accepted or safe.

2. Spacing: Fallzones

The fallzone is the area that is calculated both around and under a piece of playground equipment as where a child may fall and current standards set it at 2m. This means your Safety Surfacing should always cover an area at least 2m away from the equipments edge. Swings carry the largest fallzone, believe it or not, as the safety surfacing must allow for child at full swing height, to want to jump off and continue 2m outside this point.

3. Spacing: Equipment

The fallzones for individual pieces of equipment cannot overlap, and there must be a minimum of 2m between each item. As well as preventing children falling from one stucture to another, it enables them space to move freely and safely inbetween. This also relates to outside boundary structures such as walls and fences; all playground equipment should be installed at least 2m from these.

4. Risk of Protrusion or Entanglement

A protrusion is anything, usually a piece of hardware, that protrudes and may cause either an injury or entanglement on hair or clothing. For example a protruding bolt or open hook, any rungs or handholds that protrude from the main structure. Entanglements can be caused by loose hanging rope or chain and any used should be firmly fixed at both ends and not able to form a loop or noose. Don't allow children to tie or clip additional belts, ropes or anything that could also form a loop or noose or cause entanglement to their playground equipment and tuck in or remove any loose clothing or clothing drawstrings, cords etc.

5. Size of Openings

Put simply, any opening on a piece of playground equipment should not fall within the sizes of 8 and 23cm as they then can add to risk of head entrapment and strangulation. Big enough to allow a childs head through (in a Wendy House hatch window for example) is acceptable but when it comes to equipment such as cargo nets, ladder rungs, handrails etc then current Standards advise to make spaces SMALLER than 8cm to prevent additional risk.

6. Possibility of Trip

Try and avoid raised structure components at ground level, raised borders, tree stumps, tree roots and rocks or sudden or too high changes in ground levels which are all common cause of trip and fall in playgrounds.

7. Crushing, Pinching and Sharp Edges

All components to the equipment in a playground should be free of sharp edges or points that could cut skin. Moving pieces, such as swings, seesaws, merry-go-rounds and suspension/wobbly bridges should have no moving parts that could pinch or crush a childs finger.

8. Handrails/Guardrails on Raised Platforms

Any raised platform is required to have a guard or handrail that would prevent accidental fall from the platform at any open sides. Correct size of openings must be considered for spacing between rails and different heights of platform pertain to different age groups. For Preschoolers, any platform higher than 30cm is required to have a rail. And for Primary age and up, any platform higher than 76cm.

9. Lack of Maintenance

For playgrounds to remain in safe condition a program of systematic, preventive maintenance must be present. Regularly check for missing, broken or worn-out components. All hardware should be secure. The wood, metal, or plastic should not show signs of fatigue or deterioration. All parts should be stable with no apparent signs of loosening and the surfacing material must also be maintained. Current standards advise to call in a specialist when maintenance is required and book a regular annual safety check on your playground. In addition to their safety, it shows our children that we value their spaces and their play.

10. Suitablity

The average age span of children in our playgrounds is two to twelve. There's a big difference in development between those ages and it is imperative to ensure that the equipment chosen and installed in a playground is appropriate for the intended age group. Any preschool play areas and equipment should be sited separately to other play areas for older age groups.

11. Supervision

Over 40% of all playground accidents occur when a child is not under supervision. Preschoolers in particular are prone to testing their abilities beyond their boundaries and must be supervised on playground equipment at all times. Thought must be given to playground design that makes it easy to observe children at play and adult to child ratios should be observed. Help younger children learn to use playground equipment correctly and deter rough play, pushing, fighting etc.

12. Shading

Last on our list, but so essential that we will not install a playground piece in the sun without it. Our South African sun is much loved, and very hot. Any playground piece sited in an unshaded area must be installed with additional shading. Equipment can heat up to such high temperatures as to cause serious burns and children should also remain in the shade when playing at hot times of the day for any length of time to protect them from additional sunburn. Natural shading, such as trees, is acceptable but must give full cover at hot times of the day or additional shading may have to be installed.

We hope the above post is helpful, you can also print out our Playground Safety Checklist if there's a Playground you have concerns about.

Come back to us if we can help!