How to Keep Your Child Safe at the Playground

Taking your child to the playground is one of the best ways for your child to play and learn critical social skills that will help them throughout their lives.  If you take your child to the playground frequently, it may be good to understand what types of considerations go in to building the playgrounds, so that you can understand the safety measures that are taken to ensure that the equipment meets high standards.

Here’s what you need to know:

The CPSC – The Consumer Product Safety Commission Guidelines

There is a regulatory body that oversees safety procedures for playground equipment.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission has developed a set of guidelines and rules for people who build playground equipment and set it up in the park or play area, but it may differ from state to state. There may be specific laws in your area that determine safety regulations, so it may benefit you to check the exact requirements locally.

The CPSC guidelines protect children from hazards that can be found in playground equipment, and they have compiled statistics about injuries that have occurred on the playground to help them design rules that can effectively reduce the risks to children from playing on the playgrounds.

Most Common Playground Injuries

Most injuries on the playground result from children falling off of the equipment when they are getting to the ground.  Many of the fatal injuries that children experienced on the playground were caused by children getting play equipment tangled up in their clothes, structural malfunctions, and falls from unsuitable equipment, so the CPSC has instructed that playgrounds be made more safe taking into account the hazards that children often experience while playing on the playground.

Choosing the Site for the Playground

When the playground was built and the way that it is set up are two important factors to consider about playground safety.  Playgrounds should be isolated from areas that may cause potential hazards, like bodies of water or busy streets. 

A playground should also have an adequate amount of shade to prevent overexposure to the sun during play, and the surface of play areas should be shock absorbent with rubber and/ or sand surrounding the area to prevent hard falls.  The structures should be built from solid material that is resistant to wear and that can also withstand heavy play from children.

Playground Hazards

Some common hazards to avoid on playgrounds are anything that could be dangerous like moving objects or places likely to cause a fall.  If there are any projections on the structures that could cause your child to bump their head or lose their balance, these should also be avoided, and the structures should be smooth and sturdy so that they will promote a safe environment for your children to play.

What You Can Do to Protect Your Children

It is very important to make sure that you watch your children at all times while they are using a playground, as this will alert you to any problems that might occur and allow you to keep a close eye so that you can stop your child if they are playing on an area that is not safe or secure.  You should ensure that your children only use the equipment for the purpose that it was created, and you should only take your child to the playground when it is dry so that you can prevent slips and falls.