National Playground Safety Week takes place every year during the month of April, but while this is a good time to think about playground safety, kids should do their best to be safe on playgrounds all year long. 75% of playground injuries in children ages 5-12 years old require emergency room visits. 8 children die in playground-related injuries each year [3].
This year, National Playground Safety week is April 25th -April 29th. National Playground Safety week was originally founded by the National Program for Playground Safety (NPPS) in 1997. It was designed to be “a time to focus on children’s outdoor play environments” with the hope that communities and parents would use this week to pledge to use good judgement when playing and supervising play and a time to express gratitude for all the adults who work tirelessly on maintaining playgrounds to keep them safe for all the children who use them [1].
Here are some ways you can help keep playgrounds safe in your community [2]:
- Get your community involved. Ask if they’ve fallen or gotten hurt while using local playgrounds. Gather a group. Band together with the other parents in the community and check out local playgrounds to inspect for hazards. When possible, reach out to the owners or supervisors of that playground to request repairs.
- Talk to your children. Before they use playground equipment, make sure they understand how to properly use that equipment. Help your children learn to scan the equipment before use looking for potential dangers like loose or protruding hardware.
- Ask your child’s school to walk the playgrounds. Note any potential dangers or damages to the equipment and bring it up with teachers or the principal. You can make a difference for not your just your child, but their school by speaking up when you see a potential danger.
If you need a playground inspector, use this link to help find one in your area https://playgroundsafety.org/take-action/find-playground-inspector.
Tips to keep your children safe when playing on the playground [3]:
- Always supervise children while they are playing.
- Remove potential entanglement hazards, like strings from clothing and bike helmets before your children play.
- Check the temperature of equipment and surfacing material. Playground equipment and surfacing can get extremely hot.
- Children should go down slides on their own, never on the lap of an adult.
- Children should only play on equipment that has proper surfacing material installed under and around the equipment.
- Ensure the equipment is safe before letting your children play.
- Make sure the equipment is age appropriate for the age of your child.
- Limit sun exposure and use sunscreen.
Playing is essential to childhood and development [1]. The idea is for the community and parents of children who use playgrounds, to stay safe while playing by using the SAFE acronym: Supervision, Age Appropriate, Fall Surfacing, and the Equipment. Think about this while you and your children are playing at your favorite playgrounds this week, and keep an eye out for broken parts, rust, protruding hardware, sharp edges, or other areas of disrepair, and report it to the playground owner or supervisor [1]. For safety tips visit https://www.vumc.org/injuryprevention/safety-topics.
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