Safety 101 - Tips from a Daycare Owner on Playground ToysJun 01 '01 (Updated Jun 09 '01) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Follow rules of safety, check your set for standards, and supervise your kids.
Playground Equipment is Dangerous! I am in the daycare business, and have been for over 20 years. From what I have seen, I believe that swing sets and climbing apparatus's on playgrounds can be dangerous and have the potential to seriously injure children - if they are not up to code and children are unsupervised. Take a bunch of kids all scrambling to race up a ten foot slide (the wrong way) and combine that with an employee (or parent) who is busy taking in the rays and not keeping an eye on the kids - and you have a recipe for disaster. We're Building Our Own Swingset We are going to build a swing set this summer. I checked out what was available online, as well as our local stores, and quite frankly I couldn't find a wooden set that didn't have a climbing apparatus on it. We didn't want a metal set because they bend easily and rust over time. Not only does the rust look unsightly, but chips of paint are not safe for little kids who may choke on them. Toddlers put everything in their mouth! In this review I will combine what I have read, what I have observed, and the regulations that my home state has for playground equipment. Accidents Abound! Well, I told you that accidents happen more on outdoor play equipment. Don't just take my word for it, according to statistics, nearly 200,000 children a year make trips to the emergency room for injuries that happened while on playground equipment. One fourth of these happened at home. The majority of these accidents are from falls - and a few are from strangulations. (I will talk about that later). So as you can see, this is a very real threat to kids of all ages, and as responsible parents we need to watch out for our children's safety. Believe me, kids don't think about getting injured, they are too wrapped up in the moment and all the fun they are having! Slides A child I watched once got a concussion from a fall off a slide. We have since taken the slide off. I remember reading about a case a few years ago that was so sad! Some children were playing on a swingset, and the daycare provider went inside to go to the bathroom or something and left them unattended just for a minute. When she came back outside, one of the toddlers was strangled to death! He had a hooded jacket on, and the hood had a string laced through it. You know, to tie it under the chin. The string got caught on the swingset and he strangled to death! I won't even allow moms and dads to send this kind of clothing! Clothing manufacturers are now using elastic in the hoods instead of strings. This caused quite a scare in our area, and one of my moms removed the strings from her sons hooded sweatshirts and replaced them with elastic. Some slides also have, in my opinion, too sharp an angle on the ladder to the slide. Some of them we looked at were quite steep and the rungs very narrow. Falls From Equipment This is one reason we are not buying, we couldn't find a set without the climbing features on it. If your child is on a set with ladders, and other climbing features, look to see if there is a cushion below. Pea gravel, sand, and wood chips all make excellent shock absorbers. They should go at least 6" deep. I remember working for one daycare center and was appalled! They had very high climbing equipment and cement floors below, covered with astro turf to make it look like grass!! Unbelievable!! I am sure they have been forced by the state to change this! Swings Many homemade swingsets have the swing seats attached with rope. This can fray and brake. Others are attached with chains, which can pinch. I have found the safest to be a metal chain covered with a plastic chain guard. Swing seats can be made of a host of materials. Years ago a neighbor made a homemade swing seat out of a 2x6 piece of wood. This was dangerous! It was way too heavy, if that ever whacked a kid in the mouth it could knock out some teeth! I bought the heavy rubber sling swings like the schools use. These seem pretty safe, plus they "hug" the child while they are sitting on it! Teach your kids not to walk in front of or behind the swings, even when there is nobody swinging on them! If they get in the habit of making that their "path" when the swings are unoccupied, it may accidentally happen when they are being used and they could be plowed over. Anchors for Swingsets The regulations for my state (for licensed centers and homes) are that all swingsets have to be cemented into the ground. I can remember when I was little almost tipping over my swingset because I was swinging so high. I know that many companies sell anchors to keep their swingsets secure, but with cement you have a sure fire guarantee that this set is not going to move! Guardrails Any platform type equipment that is more than 2 1/2 feet above the ground must have railings to prevent falls. Just as with cribs and other merchandise with rails, these must also meet some safety standards. The rails need to be less than 3 1/2" apart to prevent any head entrapment or strangulation. Safety Zones & Features Swings should be at least 8 inches apart, and about a foot and a half from the frame. They should be at least 8 inches above the ground. Be sure that the hooks holding the swings are not coming open and are securely fastened to the frame. The hardware should be in good condition with no fraying ropes, rotting wood, sharp edges or corners, etc. We built a log swingset years ago from the left over logs our neighbor had after building his home. These lasted a very long time, but we had to take it down last summer because although it looked safe, there was moss starting to grow on the cross bar at the top - a sure sign that the wood was decaying. Down it came. Also, there should be a safety zone all around the play area. Years ago when my hubby and our neighbor built the log swingset, they had a framed box around it made of 4x4's, with sand and pea gravel inside of it. They did not extend the frame far enough in front of the slide - a little boy came tearing down the slide and he flew off the end - yup, right smack dab into the 4x4. He cut his lip pretty bad. I made the guys extend the frame another four feet! They weren't very happy about it, but that's another story! Safety Issues of Wood My husband wants to use telephone poles for the legs - and these are coated with creosote which is a great wood preservative, but I consider it toxic. It is usually made from coal or wood tar. Other issues with me (and I go a bit over board here) are the kinds of wood that so many sets are made of these days - pressure treated. If you look at these boards, they have small staple shaped holes all over them, because the wood is being permeated with chemicals to prevent the wood from decay. I have read that this wood is toxic as well, but what alternative do we have? If we build the set ourselves from other types of wood, it still needs a protective coating on it to protect it from the weather, and these can be toxic as well. We are using the pressure treated 4x4's and 4x6's. Many decks are made of this these days, and I think kids will get more exposure from walking on decks than they do from the swingset frame. But it is something to ponder if you are a "natural" freak like me. 6/3/01 Update: We just bought our wood tonight, and the store manager told us that the pressure treated wood we bought was not toxic. He said it does give off toxic fumes if burned, but otherwise the chemicals do not leach out of the wood. I asked him if I could take the tag from the manufacturer off the end of a 2x4 so I could check it out and he let me. (These tags were not on the 4x4's we purchased). The company who makes this wood is called "Wolmanized" and you can read about it yourself by going to: http://www.wolmanizedwood.com/safe.html Maintenance Even though playground equipment is safe when it is first put up, it needs to be well maintained over the years. The cushioning below will shift and move - I swear the kids are taking home the sand for use in their sand boxes! We have to add more each summer, it just disappears! Kids kick it as they swing, they dump it on the grass, etc. Watch for any ropes which could pose a strangulation threat. Supervision No matter how safe and up to code playground equipment is, kids will be kids. They will invent new ways of getting hurt. Like the little boy I watched who got a slight concussion. He and his "new bride" were going down the swingset holding hands, side by side, and he fell off from the top. Luckily he didn't sustain any serious injury ... he was fine the next day. But even though I was only 10 feet away from them, it happened so fast! Educate your children about safety, and keep a close eye on them. Let's hope this summer that none of our children end up being a statistic! * For a more comprehensive guide on regulations, visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission's website: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/323.html  |
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