About Playground Safety
All playgrounds present some challenge because children can be expected to use equipment in unintended and unanticipated ways. Supervisors are responsible for making sure children play safely and have the most important role in reducing playground injuries. Supervisors with proper qualifications and training are crucial in ensuring playground safety.
Playground Hazards
General hazards that should be avoided on playgrounds include the following:
Crushing and Shearing Points - Crush and shear points can be caused by parts moving relative to each other or to a fixed part during a normal use cycle, such as a seesaw.
Strings and ropes - Drawstrings on the hoods of jackets, sweatshirts, and other upper body clothing can become entangled in playground equipment, and can cause death by strangulation.
Entanglement and Impalement - Projections on playground equipment should not be able to entangle children’s clothing nor should they be large enough to impale.
Entrapment - Head entrapment is a serious concern on playgrounds, since it could lead to strangulation and death
Suspended Hazards - Children using a playground may be injured if they run into or trip over suspended components (such as cables, wires, ropes, or other flexible parts) connected from one piece of the playground equipment to another or hanging to the ground.
Sharp points, corners, or edges - Sharp points, corners, or edges on any part of the playground or playground equipment may cut or puncture a child’s skin.
Tripping Hazards - Two common causes of tripping are anchoring devices for playground equipment and containment walls for loose-fill surfacing materials.
Used Tires - Used automobile and truck tires are often recycled as playground equipment.
Playground Supervisors
A Playground Supervisor is any person assigned to watch children on a playground. Supervisors may be paid professionals (e.g., childcare, elementary school or park and recreation personnel), paid seasonal workers (e.g., college or high school students), volunteers (e.g., PTA members), or unpaid caregivers (e.g., parents) of the children playing in the playground. Newly hired playground supervisors or those transferred to a new school site need to be instructed in their essential duties.
Each playground supervisor is usually in charge of numerous children and must be trained in a number of areas to adequately supervise children at play. All supervisors should know:
Basic first aid
The school's accident procedures
Playground rules (including boundaries or other rules specific to the site)
Safe use of play equipment
Effective playground supervision methods