Are Playgrounds Safe for Your Kids?
Each year, about 200,000 children are treated in hospital emergency rooms for playground
equipment-related injuries, about 15 of these children die as a result of their injuries. Most playground injuries involve public playground equipment, but an estimated 51,000 involve home playground equipment.Playgrounds are generally safe places, but injuries can and do happen. Since it's National Playground Safety Week, here are a few important safety precautions parents should take before letting children play on jungle gyms, swirly slides and swing sets.
These important safety tips will help protect your little ones at public playgrounds and at home on your own play equipment. The tips cover playground safety risks from falls and strangulation hazards to playground predators:
- Prevent burns by checking for hot surfaces on playground equipment before allowing children to play. If a surface is too hot, consider looking for another safe place to play.
- Make sure children are not wearing clothing with strings, long necklaces or loose-fitting clothing when heading out to play. Strings can easily catch on all types of playground equipmentpresenting a serious strangulation risk.Serious strangulation risks present themselves when a string is caught on any part of the playground equipment.
- Check for loose ropes on playground equipment; ropes should always be secured at both ends to avoid causing strangulation and severe injury.
- Injuries related to falls account for almost 70 percent of all playground injuries. Safe playgrounds should not be built on concrete, packed dirt, rocks or blacktop surfaces. When planning a playground at your home, choose to cover the ground underneath play equipment with mulch, sand or materials such as rubber mats or tiles.
- All equipment should be anchored safely in the ground and be in good working order. Make sure S-hooks are entirely closed, bolts are not protruding and there are no exposed sharp ends before allowing children to play.
- Supervision is maybe the most important safety step parents can take to help keep kids safe on playgrounds. When in public, choose play areas that are designed so parents can clearly see all play areas. Always keep an eye on children when using public playgrounds and always report any suspicious people loitering near playgrounds to local police.
Child safety always begins with parents talking with children about everything from basic playground safety tosex offenders, to help them better recognize and avoid dangerous situations and people.
Are Playgrounds Safe for Your Kids?
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