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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