In a generation wherein children are more engaged in tablets and computer screens, playgrounds around the globe are challenged to reinvent themselves to encourage kids to come out and play. However, not only are aesthetic and equipment involved in the upgrade but safety as well. While playgrounds offer kids a chance to breathe in fresh air, interact with peers, and engage in physical exercise - the benefits come with risks.
Playgrounds encourage exploration and innovation. Kids are discovering new ways to play on and around playground equipment and not all explorations are guaranteed safe. Fun comes with slips, falls, bumps, and scratches. And while scrapes on the elbow and bruises on the knee are part of the experience, necessary precautionary measures must be taken into action to prevent more serious accidents and injuries from happening.
Every year, there are over 200,000 American children 14 years and younger who are treated at a hospital's emergency department due to playground-related injuries as per the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPCS). This is why it is important for playgrounds to not only look exciting and fun for kids but to be safe as well.
While the number may appear to be daunting, the majority of the incidents were actually preventable. Create a safe playground environment where children can play their hearts out by following these guidelines:
The key to creating a safer playground is to buy and install equipment which is durable and secure. With numerous options available in the market, you have to make sure you choose high-quality equipment which will guarantee stability throughout the years of use. Aside from quality, you also need to look into the equipment appropriate for the kids who will be playing. Most injuries attained from playing are due to the fact that children are using playground equipment designed for a different age group.
Occasional slips and falls are inevitable. Surfaces like concrete and asphalt will cause more injury upon impact. This is why you need to install Soft Surfacing Materials to soften the blow. Play Surface Distributio provides Playground Surfacing for Playground Safety Distributor. We offer a specialized flooring system called Play Flecks, an innovative safety surface for all your Play Ground Surfacing needs. This extremely durable flooring is a combination of our granulated Flecks, thermoplastic rubber as a wear course, combined with our EnviroFluff cushion layer which makes it ideal as a playground flooring material.
No matter how safe a playground raves itself to be, we strongly urge parents to still provide supervision. Parents or sitters must always be present when children come to play. In line with this, a playground must be designed as to promote and allow surveillance from adults from the sidelines. All playground equipment must be unobstructed or at least have enough clearance to allow supervisors to swiftly respond when accidents occur.