My Focus on Family Life and Parenting

A Quick Checklist

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the US National Program for Playground Safety came up with the following checklist which may be placed in a prominent area of your home for quick reference.  Before your children head out the door for the playground, check that:

1.    Supervision is present, but strings and rope aren’t.  Adult presence is a needed to watch for potential hazards, observe, intercede, and facilitate play when necessary.  Strings on clothing or dental strangulation if caught on equipment. 

2.    All children play on age-appropriate equipment.  Preschoolers, ages 2 to 5, and children, ages 5 to 12, are developmentally different and need different equipment located in separate areas to keep the playground safe and fun for all. 

3.    Fall to surface are cushioned.  Nearly 70 percent of all playground injuries are related to fall to the surface.  Acceptable surfaces include hardwood fiber or mulch, pea gravel, sand and synthetic materials such as poured-in-place, rubber mats, or tiles.  Playground surface should not be concrete, asphalt, grass, blacktop, packed dirt, or rocks. 

4.    Equipment is safe.  Check to make sure the equipment is anchored safely to the ground, all equipment pieces are in good working order,  S-hooks are entirely closed, bolts are not protruding, there are no exposed footings, among the things.