A playground should be a place that fosters imagination, fun, physical fitness, and more. It should be a place where kids can socialize and experience the outdoors, without you having to worry about their safety.
As parents, teachers, caregivers and playground equipment suppliers, playground safety is always our priority.
Today we want to discuss the importance of playground safety and things to monitor so potential dangers can be avoided.
Here are a few tips for maintaining safe playgrounds for children…
Inspect your playground equipment regularly
Playgrounds age and do not maintain themselves. They require regular inspections, maintenance and repairs if necessary. The best way to do this is to hire a third-party playground inspection company to come out and do this for you. Our team at Latta’s includes certified playground inspectors so we can help! If you order our equipment, each piece of equipment or play structure is designed and installed with a certified playground inspector assigned to your project as well.
Inspecting your playground equipment should include:
- Checking surfaces under the play equipment
- Checking equipment for loose screws, bolts or other sharp edges and hazards
- Reviewing fall zones
- Inspecting for head entrapments
- Identifying unsafe equipment
- Identifying tripping hazards
Check out our full playground safety checklist here.
Ensure equipment is used appropriately
Monitoring equipment use can help maintain the life of the equipment as well as the safety of those using it. When equipment is used like intended, everyone is safer. This includes making sure kids are doing things like not climbing up slides, not standing on the outside of tunnels or tube slides and not standing on railings or posts.
Maintain proper dress requirements
Another easy way to help keep kids safe is to make sure they are dressed appropriately to play outside. Make sure they are wearing proper shoes to play on the playground and are not barefoot. When wearing tennis shoes make sure they’re tied and don’t have long laces. Boots, sandals, and flip flops are not advised. Other jackets and hoodies with long drawstrings should also be avoided. Don’t bring or wear other play equipment, like a bike helmet, on the playground either.
Keeping children active, having fun and safe on our playground equipment is important to us. Playground injuries are bound to happen from time to time but can be significantly decreased and avoided as long as we actively identify and address unsafe playground equipment, environment or dress.
Contact us to schedule a safety inspection on your playground today!