Children are at risk of life threatening Head Injury  within the limits of current Playground Standards

Children are a precious resource and the playground is where they learn some very important lessons in life.  The playground is an essential investment in the future of this human resource.  Protecting them from life-threatening head injuries should be a societal priority and reflected in the Standards and Public Safety documents that the children and parents rely on.

A challenging playground will add to the health, fitness and well being of the child, helping them to;

• develop cognitive skills,

• learn how their bodies work,

• gain physical strength,

• make assessments with regard to spatial dimensions,

• evaluate risks, reward and achievement,

• set goals for physical achievement,

• make decisions that have personal consequences,

• learn how to be co-operative with their peers,

• learn competitiveness through play,

• and have FUN

Unfortunately one of the lessons of the playground will be that injuries are an expected and reasonable outcome of a visit to the playground.  In the United States there are annually in excess of 200,000 visits to emergency rooms included in the more than 500,000 total estimated injuries.  70% of all injuries in the playground are as a result of falls.

The total number of injuries have not decreased even though playground standards and public safety documents have been published since the early 1980's.  The good news is that playgrounds and playspaces are significantly better in design, layout, manufacture and maintenance. 

Then why are there still as many and more injuries?

The numbers of injuries can be explained by a number of factors;

• there are more playgrounds

• there are more children

• children are exposed to a culture of play and challenge that did not exist 20 years ago, before bungee jumping, skate and snow boards on the ground and out of airplanes and exposure to physical feats that continue to stretch the envelope of human physical achievement.

• Unfortunately 70% of injuries are still falls and study after study have vilified the playground surfacing as being "inadequate".

• Unfortunately playground surfaces are often not installed to provide a Gmax not in excess of 200 and HIC not in excess of 1000 from the fall heights defined in various standards

• Unfortunately the fall heights for some playground equipment that as stipulated in the various National Standards do not reflect that actual height from which children are likely to fall from.

The severity of the injury and force from impact is based on velocity and distance fallen.  Defining the height from which a child might fall is critical to injury reduction.  Playgrounds have guardrails and barriers to prevent children from climbing and barriers are to stop the child from passing through.  Currently in the United States, the fall height for a play structure with guardrails or barriers is the platform or deck.   Barriers are to be at least 38" above the level of the platform.  When a child climbs the barrier they are 38" higher than from where they are protected from a potentially life-threatening head injury.

Here we have an adventurous children who firmly believe as do their parents that they will be protected from a potentially fatal head injury as they go over either a barrier or guardrail.

Even the front cover of the of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) Handbook on Public Playground Safety shows a child leaning or balancing on top of the barrier panels.

At Canadian Playground Advisory Inc., we believe that children will climb barriers and guardrails, even if manufacturers design and build them to prevent climbing and especially with barriers so as not to allow a child to pass through them.  It is difficult to understand how a child lands on the protective surface at a barrier panel without going over.  Most owner/operators, parents and children do not understand that if they climb and fall from a barrier, the Standards provide a minimum protection from a potentially life-threatening head injury only at the platform, 38" lower than where they are.  This change to the ASTM F1487, the CSA Z614 and the CPSC Handbook on Public Playground Safety (doc 325) is essential for the protection of children.

If you believe that children climb to the tops of barriers and guardrails and should be protected from this point by making this the fall height, we ask you to take a few moments and send the following email by copying and pasteing;

These email addresses into your to line

trms@aol.com; jolshefs@astm.org; robert@fibar.com; michael.dodd@csa.ca ; christine_simpson@hc-sc.gc.ca; rolf@playgroundadvisory.com; steve_king@4funlsi.com; tomn@gametime.com; kkutska@wheatonparks.org

In the subject line place "make the fall height the top of barriers and guardrails"

In the body place " I believe that children will and it is important that they challenge themselves on playgrounds.  Some of these children will by virtue of being children attempt to climb or climb over guardrails and barriers.  Since the standards for playground protective surfacing have a pass/fail at values above which a life-threatening head injury could occur at the height of the platform, the fall height for structures with barriers and guardrails must be the tops of these barriers and guardrails."

Your email has been sent to the following people;

• Frances Wallach, chair of sub-committee responsible for ASTM F1487

• James P. Olshefsky, ASTM staff

• Robert G. Heath, chair of sub-committee responsible for ASTM F1292

• Mike Dodd, project manager for CSA Z614

• Christine Simpson, chair of technical committee responsible for CSA Z614

• Rolf Huber, Canadian Playground Advisory Inc.

• Steve King, President IPEMA (International Playground Equipment Manufacturer’s Association

• Tom Norquist, President elect IPEMA

• Kenneth S. Kutska, member of NIPSI teaching staff

We thank you for your interest in the future well being of children and look forward working with you to advance this cause.

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Copyright © 2004 Canadian Playground Advisory Inc.
Last modified: 03/03/05