National Playground Safety Week

From LoveToKnow Safety

National Playground Safety Week, held during April 21-25, is a time to focus on safe outdoor play for children of all ages. Let’s learn more about this very important week!

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Is National Playground Safety Week Necessary?

Is a National Playground Safety Week necessary? In a word, yes. While it may seem frivolous to some, a quick glance at some national safety statistics bear out the need for this very important week; a week that highlights keeping our children safe, no matter where they play. Some of those statics include:

Each year, an astounding 205,860 preschool and elementary children receive emergency department care for injuries sustained from, or on, playground equipment.

Twenty-three percent of the above injuries occurred on home playground equipment. The National Program for Playground Safety breaks these numbers down even further. Of all the injuries that involved public equipment:

Forty-five percent occurred in schools

Thirty-one percent in commercial childcare centers.

Three percent of the injuries took place

Three took place at apartment complexes

Two percent occurred at fast food restaurants.

The lesson here? It’s clear that this is an important topic, one that parents, childcare workers and teachers everywhere need to pay close attention to.

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A Closer Look: Who’s At Risk

Let’s now take a look at who is at risk for some of these dangerous playground injuries. Some of the groups at risk include:

All children: All children, quite literally, are at risk. When you think about it, this actually makes sense. Most parents, and teachers, besides the usual “be careful” mantra, offer little in the way of how to do just that. The result, then, are children (as children are apt to do), that run off with little in the way of real specifics of what to do if an injury were to occur.

Girls: While both boys and girls sustain injuries, girls sustain slightly more injuries than boys do. The breakdown, in fact, is fifty-five percent (for girls) to forty-five percent (for boys).

Age: Children ages five to nine have higher rates of emergency room visits for playground injuries. This is more than any other age group. Additionally, most of these injuries occur at school.

Moreover, when it comes to public playgrounds, most injuries occur on the “climbers” more than any other type of play equipment. When it comes to home playground sets, it’s the swings that are responsible for most injuries.

Finally, and interestingly enough, playgrounds in lower-income areas have more maintenance related hazards than playgrounds in higher-income neighborhoods. This is attributed to the fact that many lower-income areas tend to have significantly more trash, rusty play equipment and damaged surface areas.

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What Can Be Done?

In light of these disturbing safety statics, you may be wondering what can be done to keep your child safe while supporting National Playground Safety Week. Here’s how to do both:

Consider designing and distributing surveys to find out which are the most favorite and least favorite playground equipment. This also will allow you to get a feel for the recurring problems at the playground, as well as where most of the injuries occur.

Send a letter to your state’s governor encouraging he or she to support National Playground Safety Week.

Create and hang posters in school and community areas that clearly state what constitutes “safe play”.

If you are a member of your schools’ Parent Teacher Association, or PTA, challenge that school to have an injury-free week.

Consider hosting a guest speaker to discuss safety on the playground.

Go out there yourself and check out your local playgrounds. If you find hard surfacing, asphalt, concrete, or grass growing underneath play equipment, call the owner of the playground. Politely voice your concerns and ask what you can do to help.

Finally, you can write the editor of your hometown newspaper and comment on any playground safety issues you may be aware of. Be sure to mention those facilities that are doing a good job on safety.

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