Strategies for reducing playground injuries
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 Playground Safety Articles





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10 Tips for Playground Supervision

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) put out a safety alert regarding summer sun and the resulting hot playground equipment and the risk of burns.  Plastics, rubbers and metal equipment and surfacing have a potential to become hot enough to burn a child.

Download the CPSC Burn Safety Awareness Fact Sheet


Additional Playground Safety Articles and Information:

Can Playgrounds Be Safe? 

Public Playground Safety Handbook from CPSC.



A must have document for schools and day care centers is the Public Playgrounds Safety Handbook.

CPSC’s public playground guidelines are detailed here and are intended to help parks, schools, installers and others choose the safest equipment.


Check out our other resources on our Playground Resources Page.

Related Articles and information on Playground Safety.

School playgrounds can be safe.

Playground Supervision Serious accidents which occur in schools typically happen on the playground and often  playground supervision is a contributing factor.  In fact, approximately 200,000 accidents each year send children to the emergency room for treatment of an injury which occurred on the school playground. The following tips  are designed to increase the quality of the playground supervision in your school  insuring that children ar…

Peaceful Playgrounds cares about student safety.  If fact, our Founder Dr. Melinda Bossenmeyer spends a great deal of time in that arena.

She serves as an expert witness in lawsuits involving student injuries at recess and  physical education.  She is also an expert witness in the area of school supervision.

Did you know that Peaceful Playgrounds offers a Playground Supervision Online Training Course and Certification?  In addition to providing p…

I received this letter last week and felt it has a lot of good information that many educators are asking about.

Hello,
I am writing to ask about an opinion expressed in an article on the website.  The article,  Playground Liability: Accident or Injury states On average, 17 children die each year playing on playgrounds.

It contains some good advice about supervision, but I would like to know what information, presented in the article, was used t…

Here's a great You Tube video on the topic of playground surfacing from the National Program for Playground Safety.

A lawsuit against a public school district was filed in 2011 by a 7 year old student's mother.  Megan L. Chang-Ngaruiya, the attorney on the case, stated “This case was pursued by our clients to bring attention to the need for increased supervision of students." It is reported by Kvewtv.com website that McGee Elementary has settled for $150,000.

The lawsuit stated that playground supervision was inadequate for the following reasons:
…

Playground injury suit claims the school failed: 1) to intervene in improper use of playground equipment, 2) inadequate supervision, and 3)  lack of procedures in place to ensure safety. A 14 year old boy and his father are suing a Catholic School charging negligence related to the incident in which a 6th grade student fell from a play structure platform.  Link to entire article: http://www.abqjournal.com/225404/north/catholic-school-sued-ove…

If you are looking for playground rules or general information on playground safety you may be interested in the Playground Rules and Safety Powerpoints for review and download.

Free Presentations in PowerPoint format
Playground Rules
Playground Rules
School Rules
Playground Rules, Classroom Rules, Lunchroom Rules
Peaceful Playgrounds - Training

Playground Safety
Public Playground Safety (powerpoint and more)
See Also: Safety


For Kids
Playground Safety…

Inflatable playgrounds do not follow the same Playground Safety Guidelines outlined in the Playground Safety Handbook put out by the Consumer Product Safety Commission yet accidents including hospitalizations do happen. Here's a short video on what you should know regarding safety.


Related blog: Accident or Injury?

For years, the Environmental Protection Agency has endorsed the recycling of ground-up tires to cushion the surfaces of children's playgrounds and sports fields — the same material used for the Obama family's new White House playground.

Now, the agency appears to be having second thoughts.

Three articles point out the concerns:
Legal Briefs: EPA Reconsidering Safety of Ground-Up-Tires as Playground Surfaces

Common Dreams.org: Safety of Shre…

I found this video on Playground Safety on School Tube. It was made by two 5th grade students in their computer club.

Check it out.

Slyde the Playground Hound is loved by children and respected by adults for his “cool” and “careful” ways at the playground. With SLYDE by your side, children become aware of playground safety in a way that is fun, entertaining and easy to remember. Teachers can check out the SLYDE KID ZONE for coloring book activities, comics, games and other fun resources for students.

National PTA : Making Playgrounds Safer

Ireland's latest playground design "Tone Zone's", an elderly outdoor gym, is meeting with opposition. It seems that when local authorities have been meeting with community members they say, "thanks-but-no thanks", in regards to the new Tone Zones. The challenge it seems is to have the playgrounds close to where old folks live but senior developments see playgrounds are drawing "undesirables".

Have you ever wondered why some schools report few incidents of bullying and kids report that they feel safe at school while other students report just the opposite?

The design of the playground makes a big difference in both physical and emotional safety at recess. The following suggestions are some playground redesign questions that impact playground safety.

1. Can a supervisor see all children at all times on the playground? Unsupervised chi…

WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of Playground Swing Sets made by Playworld Systems Inc. of Lewisburg, Pa. No injuries have been reported but the clevis that holds the swing can wear down, causing the swing to detach, creating a falling hazard, a CPSC statement said.

The swing sets were sold through authorized dealers from January 2007 through February 2008 for between $770 and $…

The majority of playground injuries, 83.9% occurred on monkey bars, swings, and slides, and the 5 most common diagnoses were fractures (39.3%), contusions/abrasions (20.6%), lacerations (16.6%), strains/sprains (9.9%), and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) (8.5%).

Boys represented (54.3%) of all injuries and girls (45.7%).

The average age was 3.5 to 9.5 years. The injuries occurred at school in 38.9%; at a recreation/sporting facility, in 35.5%; …