Playground Safety at Commercial Childcare Centers

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Playground Safety at Commercial Childcare Centers

• Four KEY areas where direct attention can
  significantly reduce the risk of injury to
  children.
• The advice provided in this presentation was
  developed from reliable sources and from
  practical experience in the industry. However,
  Thomco, LLC cannot accept legal liability for the
  thoroughness of the material as it relates to
  practical applications at playgrounds. Although
  the advice is intended to help improve playground
  safety at childcare centers it is not intended to
  address all potential hazards or scenarios at a
  playground.
• Bill Coons, Loss Control Director
• Thomco, LLC

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Key 1Supervision
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Play time for the children IS NOT break time for
employees.

• Outside play time is a great change of scenery
  for the teachers AND the children.
• It should not be thought of as rest time for
  teachers.
• Children are more excited and active when outside
  which increases the chances of injury.
• If adult supervision DECREASES as child
  excitability INCREASES

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Accidents Happen!

• Each play area should have an adult supervisor
• Playgrounds should NOT be set up with teacher
  sitting areas as this tends to minimize the
  importance of the need for supervision
• Caregivers should watch for child behavior that
  tends to lead to injuries running, not paying
  attention to nearby swings, arguing over toys,
  children pushing other children, line battles,
  etc.

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Supervision, Continued

• Teacher supervisors must pay attention to keeping
  toddler children out of areas where older
  children are playing. A common playground injury
  includes children running into other children
  when a child less experienced in walking cannot
  get out of the way of a running 3 or 4 year old.
• Prior to heading to the playground a quick
  clothing check should take place. Things to look
  for necklaces, drawstrings, ear-rings, loose
  belts, untied shoes
• Supervise child traffic at the end of slides and
  in front of swing sets
• Enforce proper use of equipment, for example
  children should not be allowed to climb up the
  sliding surface
• Teachers should be stationed where they can see
  children in the crawl spaces and on the equipment
• There should not be any areas where children can
  easily get out of sight of teachers as this
  increases the chance for abuse allegations

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Key components of supervision

• Pre-Supervision and
• Active Monitoring

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Pre-Supervision

• An adult should enter the playground area BEFORE
  the children are allowed to enter the area.
• A quick inspection for any obvious, out of the
  ordinary hazards should take place prior to
  children being allowed onto playgrounds

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Active Monitoring

• Active requires that monitoring children on the
  playground is INTENTIONAL
• Proper positioning allows supervisor to see
  children from different angles, changing
  locations in the play area allows for closer
  supervision
• Scanning supervisors should look up, down,
  right, left, over and under to see all areas of
  the play environment
• Eye contact with children often can prevent
  unruly behavior that leads to injuries

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Key 2Age Appropriate Equipment Design
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Equipment for children aged 2 to 5 years should
be separate from play equipment for children 5 to
12 years old.

• Signs in the play area will help reinforce
  teacher instruction on age appropriate play
  equipment
• Resist the temptation to move advanced younger
  children to older group play areas
• If possible fences should separate age
  appropriate play areas from each other

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Platforms on equipment

• Are intended to allow children to change
  direction and get off the equipment if they want
  to
• Should have appropriate guardrails
• Minimum of 38 high for school age children 5-12
• Minimum of 29 high for Preschoolers 2-5 y.o.

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Design and Supports

• Equipment design should prevent the possibility
  of climbing on the outside of the structure
• Supports for the equipment should prevent
  children from climbing on the outside of the
  structure

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Cautions about Head Entrapment

• General rule of thumb is that ALL OPENINGS in
  guardrails, between ladder rungs and similar
  openings should be
• Less than 3.5
• More than 9
• Openings between those ranges can allow a childs
  head to become trapped in the space

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Key 3Fall Zones
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Height Children Gravity Falls

• Fall zones should be created due to the common
  event of children falling
• Proper fall zones should NOT allow for less
  teacher supervision
• Supervision helps prevent falls
• Fall Zone Guidelines are established to prevent
  life threatening head injuries

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Physics

• Its a matter of physics. The higher the fall
  and harder the surface, the worse the injury.
• E. Henzy

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Equipment Height Recommendations

• Preschool children should play on equipment no
  higher than 6 feet maximum
• School aged children (5-12y.o.) should play on
  equipment no higher than 8 feet maximum

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Playground Injury Statistics

• Each year more than 15 children die in playground
  related incidents
• An estimated 205,850 playground related injuries
  result in hospital emergency room visits
• Approximately 75.8 of playground injuries in
  1999 occurred on playgrounds designed for public
  use
• Fractures are most commonly reported injuries
  accounting for 39 of all injuries
• Approximately 80 of reported fractures involve
  the wrist, lower arm, or elbow
• Approximately 79 of injuries that occurred
  involved falling from playground equipment onto
  the ground below the equipment

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Material Types

• Loose Fill Material
• And
• Unitary

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Loose Fill Material

• Organic including wood chips, bark mulch, and
  engineered wood fibers
• Should be replaced over time, may allow for bugs
  and weed growth, require retaining structures,
  and should be shifted regularly to provide
  maximum protection from fall impacts

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Loose Fill Material

• Inorganic including sand, pea gravel, and more
  recently - shredded tires
• Sand has problems when wet and with floor
  abrasions
• Pea gravel has problems with curious children
  placing stones in various body cavities
• Shredded tires are inconsistently processed in
  the past so problems with clothes stains arose

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Unitary Material

• Particles are bonded together through heating or
  cooling processes or with the use of a bonding
  agent or adhesive
• These materials are costly to install and over
  time require costly maintenance

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Important factor is Shock-Absorption
Characteristics

• Depth of material needed depends on height of
  equipment
• Recommendations include
• 9 to 12 inches of wood chips for equipment 7 to 8
  feet high
• 6 inches minimum of wood chips for equipment 6
  feet high and lower

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Practical tips

• Use a straight ruler pushed into the material to
  measure depth
• Feel the material move under your feet, if there
  is no give you need more surfacing
• Consider 8 PVC connected to contain loose fill
  material

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Key 4 Equipment Maintenance

• Inspect Playground equipment for the following
• Broken or missing parts
• Protruding bolts or fixtures
• Dangerous gaps that can catch drawstrings or
  entrap body parts
• Gaps between 3.5 inches and 9 inches create
  special hazards

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Contd, Inspect Equipment for

• Rust on metal parts
• Splinters on wood pieces
• Cracks and holes in plastic equipment

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Regular Inspections

• Designate people responsible for routine and more
  thorough inspections
• Use checklists to mark areas inspected and take
  notes for future maintenance concerns
• Keep files of inspections with dates which will
  provide for defense of some claims

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For more information

• Visit the following websites
• www.playgroundsafety.org
• www.cpsc.gov
• www.kidchecker.org