What can I do to keep kids safe at my home playground?
These 10 tips are based on the playground safety standards published by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) in 1998 (and revised in 2003), along with other research and expert advice in Canada. The CSA standards do not formally apply to home play equipment.
1. Start with equipment that young children can use safely, instead of expecting your children to grow into the equipment. Young children are often injured on equipment designed for older children. To help make sure that your home equipment is appropriate for the age of your children, build your play space in stages. A good rule to follow: If a child is too small to reach and use equipment by himself, it is not designed for children his age.
2. Falls are the number one cause of injury. There are several ways you can keep children from getting badly hurt by falls from playground equipment:
- A deep, soft surface will cushion the impact of falls and prevent many injuries. Provide a loose-fill surface, such as sand or wood chips, of at least six to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimetres) deep under swings, climbers and slides to cushion falls. Higher equipment needs deeper surfacing.
- Keep heights low. For example, the CSA standard recommends that a balance beam for pre-schoolers be no higher than 12 inches (30 centimetres), and 16 inches (40 centimetres) for children five - 12 years old. Be creative — for example, build a slide into a hill. Children under 5 years should be kept on equipment lower than five feet high.
- Make sure equipment has guardrails or barriers to prevent falls. The CSA standards recommend barriers on equipment higher than 30 inches (75 centimetres) if pre-schoolers will be playing on it, and on equipment higher than four feet (120 centimetres) for children 5 years and older.
- Keep high equipment out of reach of children younger than five years. For example, remove the lowest rung of ladders to keep toddlers from climbing.
3. Swing seats should be made of soft material such as rubber or canvas. Many injuries occur when children are hit with a hard swing seat.
4. Make sure there is lots of space around equipment. The CSA standard recommends that there be six feet (1.8 metres) between any two pieces of play equipment, as well as between equipment and fencing or other structures. Swings and slides require more space. Many backyards will not allow this much space. Keep spacing in mind when you plan your yard.
5. Equipment should be firmly anchored in the ground.
6. There should be no points which can catch children’s clothing. Children have died from strangulation when clothing or ropes they were playing with became entangled in high equipment. Check particularly at the top of slides, S-hooks on swings, the joints of climbers, and nearby fencing.
7. Take off anything that could strangle your child before he goes out to play. Take off any strings or drawstrings on your child’s clothing. In winter, use clips instead of strings to hold the mittens. Make sure your child wears a neck warmer instead of a scarf. Do not let your child take skipping ropes or bike helmets onto playground equipment.
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8. Always supervise young children at water play. Toddlers can drown in a few inches of water. Empty large pails and wading pools when you leave the play area.
9. Inspect your backyard playground regularly (several times each month) and make repairs or remove broken equipment. Look for signs of wear, splintering, or cracks. Check that bolts are tight and equipment is still well anchored. Check the depth of surfacing, and rake it to keep the surfacing loose and remove debris. Add more surfacing where necessary.
10. Supervise actively. For children younger than five years, we recommend that you stay close to children as they play. Be ready to catch them when they are on equipment. Keep them on equipment under five feet high. And keep an eye on the behaviour of older children; they like to take chances.
Where can I buy playground surfacing? What will it cost?
Sand, pea gravel, shredded bark mulch, wood chip nuggets and rubber mulch are acceptable natural materials to put under home play equipment. Many gardening centres and hardware stores carry these materials and can help you calculate how much surfacing you need.
Seventy-five cubic feet (two cubic metres) of natural surfacing material will cover a playspace 10-feet by 10-feet (three metres by three metres) to a depth of approximately nine inches (23 cm), and will cost about $250 to $300, depending on the material. Remember that natural surfacing will likely need topping up at least once a year.
Some types of synthetic surfacing are also available in family-size quantities. You may find hardware and department stores that carry loose rubber material in bags. Commercial-grade outdoor rubber mats are available from manufacturers. Costs run approximately $10 to $14 per square foot.
For possible sources of surfacing material, check under “playground equipment” in your local telephone or business directory. The US National Program for Playground Safety also lists a number of North American manufacturers and distributors of surfacing on its Web site at www.uni.edu/playground/resources/surface.html. The program also lists companies that make and distribute playground equipment at www.uni.edu/playground/resources/equipment.html.
Where can I get more information?
"Protective Surfaces under Playground Equipment: It’s Important Even at Home" is a guidebook on home playspace surfacing, equipment anchoring, and layout. Produced by Direction de la santé publique de Montréal-Centre (Montreal Public Health Unit). Available in English or French on the Internet at: www.santepub-mtl.qc.ca/toutpetit/les0-4ans/appareil/playground.html
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has safety tips for home playgrounds, available on the Internet at: www.cpsc.gov or by phone at 1-800-638-2772. Although this is not a Canadian source, U.S.and Canadian playground safety standards are similar.
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| Page published on 2006-08-28 |
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