Playground Safety Tips for Outdoor Recreation Professionals

Playgrounds are a positive environment for kids to learn and develop. They offer benefits for kids that help them advance mentally and physically.

While playgrounds are fun places for children, it is important to ensure playground safety. Kids get hurt on playgrounds, and the common injuries on playground involve falls, playground equipment entrapment, failure and collisions. Unsafe playground equipment can also cause serious injuries.

Are your playgrounds safe? Outdoor recreation facilities, public parks and schools need to support safe playground features.

Enlisted below are a few tips that will help you improve your current playground conditions and raise playground safety awareness.

Adhere to playground equipment compliant Australian playground standards.

The first tip is no brainer. The New Australian standards for playground safety creates the foundation of all Australian playground equipment and surfacing standards. It promotes fun through stimulating learning environments and aims at minimizing the risk injuries to playground users. For complying to Australian Playground Standards, outdoor recreation facility, schools and public parks should make sure that they follow the proper guidelines of development, installation, inspection, maintenance and operation of playgrounds.

Supervision

Adult supervision is the biggest defense that kids have against playground injuries. Adults can help prevent injuries by watching out for potential playground hazards and ensuring proper use of playground equipment. If the injury does occur, adults can assist the injured child and take appropriate care of the situation.

Age Appropriate Playground Equipment

All kids look for challenges in play equipment, so it is vital to separate playground equipment by age level. Play structures should be labelled according to the age group, to ensure kids are safe at play. All playgrounds should have an age-appropriate design to have a dedicated play space including easier to use components for juniors, and higher components for senior users.

Adult supervision also helps in keeping younger children away from larger structures.

Provide Proper Surfaces

The fourth safety tip for playground system is fall surfaces. The surface of the play area should be evenly leveled and should not include cement, grass and dirt. The hard unacceptable surfaces increase the chances for a severe injury. Even if the child falls on the ground, the surfaces should be designed in a way that decreases the risk of an injury. The surfaces should be filled with loose materials maintained at 12 inches. Selecting the right surface solution is an important step in creating a safer play space for kids.

Maintaining Proper Playground Equipment

The administrations should keep a regular check on the playground structures. Cracks in plastic, splinters on wood equipment, deteriorating structures should be timely checked and properly maintained to ensure the longevity of the playground equipment. Adults should thoroughly supervise the play area play before letting the children play and should report maintenance issues to the administration immediately. The administration should call a certified playground company to maintain your playground in Brisbane professionally.

Protection from the Elements

When the temperature rises, the equipment becomes too hot and can increase the risk of thermal burns. Likewise, healthcare risks can also occur when the weather is too cold. Therefore, parents should check the playground surface before allowing their children to play so that healthcare risks can be minimized. It is important to access the local weather to understand the real temperature at the park.

Insist on Safe Clothing

Playground safety issues arise when children wear dangerous clothing in play areas. Parents and adult supervisors should make sure that the children understand appropriate playground clothing. Making sure the shoelaces are tied properly before playing on playground equipment is very important. Bike helmets on the playground might not be as safe as you think, they can get caught on playground equipment and can hurt the child. So, it is better to avoid bike helmets in outdoor recreation. Parents should try to dress their kids in long pants and shirts to prevent their skin from scrapes, bug bites and too much sun exposure.