By Melinda Bossenmeyer, Ed.D.
Injury data indicates that approximately 45% of injuries on the playground can be attributed to either improper supervision on lack of adult supervision. Accordingly, even if this 45% of injuries were corrected by trained and active supervision, 55% of injures would still need to be addressed. Some injuries are a result of faulty or poorly maintained playground equipment. Other injuries are known as “accidents”. Accidents can occur even though proper and maintained equipment exists and adequate supervision is established.
“Accidents” occur as a result of unavoidable and unpredictable situations on the playground. For example, if a child is running on the playground and trips another child this is unpredictable or typical behavior consistent with normal playground interactions. On the other hand, if a child is swinging a rope and running throughout the playground causing other children to trip over the rope this situation is both predictable and should be stopped by a playground supervisor and therefore is clearly “not an accident”. For more click on the link below.
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