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Playground expert lists 13 common safety issues


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Jim Dempsey isn’t playing around in listing 13 common playground safety issues.

Dempsey, a partner in Grounds for Play Inc., Mansfield, Texas, led a session on playground safety May 19 during the Church Expo at LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

He said safety issues include the following:

— Falls to non-resilient surfaces around climbing and swinging equipment.

— Inadequate or improper fall zone (depth, size or type of surface) around equipment.

— Head entrapments and entanglements where children could be injured in a fall.

— Inappropriate protective barriers on climbers.

— Crush, pinch or shear points on swinging or moving equipment.

— Falls from upper portions of equipment onto lower portions of equipment.

— Inappropriate placement or spacing between equipment.

— Swings attached to climbing structures or improperly placed on the playground.

— Inappropriate slides (too steep, no existing region parallel to the ground or unshaded bare metal slide bed).

— Inappropriate hand rails or hand holds for steps, climbers and slides.

— Developmentally inappropriate equipment.

— Supervision difficulties related to playground design or equipment placement.

— Improper maintenance.
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