Playgrounds – Hazard Inspection and Response

By Tony Leite, Senior Risk Manager

As the weather warms, communities begin to spend more time outdoors at parks and playgrounds. While playgrounds are a great place for children to have fun, exercise, and interact, they are also a place where frequent accidents and injuries occur. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 200,000 children under the age of 14 are injured on America’s playgrounds each year. Of these injuries, 45% are severe and include concussions, dislocations, fractures, and internal injuries. At a cost of over $1 billion annually, these injuries are devastating to communities, both financially and emotionally.

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To prevent playground injuries, it is essential for member agencies to routinely inspect the condition of their playgrounds, perform maintenance on equipment and surfacing, and investigate all reported hazards and incidents.

It is the responsibility of agency staff to facilitate a commitment to safe playgrounds by ensuring that defined inspection protocols are implemented. These protocols should include a documented Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI) inspection of all playgrounds. The CPSI inspection is a requirement in California. It verifies that playgrounds are compliant using the American Society of Testing and Materials specifications and playground-related recommendations from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Inspections are critical to ensure hazards are found by staff before injuries occur.

The most common hazard and threat of noncompliance on a playground is the surfacing, as more than 80% of playground injuries occur from falls. Playground surfacing, such as engineered wood fiber, poured-in-place unitary surfacing, and rubber tiles, can deteriorate and therefore need constant maintenance to ensure safety. Older playgrounds often have tall structures towering over a non-compliant surface of grass, sand, or pea gravel, which does not afford adequate impact attenuation for the fall heights of the equipment. Further, neither sand nor pea gravel meet Americans with Disabilities (ADA) requirements for accessibility. Note that all surfacing must comply with the Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Playground Equipment for Public Use and ASTM F1292: Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment.

Playground structures can present protrusion, entanglement, and entrapment hazards. Slides, swings, bridges, and climbing walls can show obvious signs of wear and can present an injury risk. An effective inspection program should identify these hazards, but in some cases, a community member notifies the agency of an existing hazard. All notifications regarding the condition, accessibility, or safety of agency-owned playgrounds should be taken seriously and addressed as soon as possible. Records should be generated and maintained for all complaints, subsequent inspections, and corrective actions.

If an incident resulting in injury or property damage occurs, the agency’s risk manager should be notified immediately, and an investigation into the alleged incident should be conducted. The investigator should take photos of the incident location, and any equipment alleged to be defective should be obtained. It is important to obtain contact information for any injured party and witnesses. Also, their statements of events that resulted in the incident should be documented. If equipment failure is a causal factor, the equipment should be retained in a safe place and clearly labeled. Defective equipment involved in an incident should never be disposed of under any circumstance until any resulting claims/lawsuits have been resolved.

Creating a safe environment for children while they enjoy community playgrounds is of paramount importance, and spring is an excellent time of the year to review parks and playground program information, ensure that regular documented inspections are occurring, and attend playground safety courses. Parks and playground checklists, templates, and safety training can be found on the California JPIA’s website, cjpia.org.

For questions about playground safety, Authority members can contact their regional risk manager.

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