How Can I Keep My Child Safe On The Playground?

Playgrounds are fun places for your child to get fresh air and exercise, but they also require adult supervision and appropriate, well-maintained equipment to help prevent injuries and lessen their severity. More than 200,000 children each year are treated in U.S. emergency rooms for playground injuries, mostly caused by falls to a surface, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. More than half of these injuries are in children ages 5 to 9, and most occur at school. While deaths from playground injuries are rare, most happen at home. The leading cause of death related to playground equipment is strangulation primarily from drawstrings on clothes or ropes attached to play sets.

The following checklist can help you determine whether the public, school or home playgrounds where your child plays is using basic safety precautions. It includes information from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission:

•Surfaces around playground equipment need at least 12 inches of wood chips, mulch, sand or pea gravel, or mats made of safety-tested rubber or rubberlike materials. Concrete, asphalt and blacktop surfaces are unsuitable.

•The cushioned surface should extend at least six feet in all directions from the equipment and be twice the height of the suspending swing bar in back and front.

•Areas for preschoolers should be separate from those designed for older, more active children. Direct children to age-appropriate equipment. For instance, most young children lack the coordination needed to use ladders and monkey bars. A seesaw should only be used by children older than 3.

•Spaces that could trap children, such as openings in guardrails or between ladder rungs, should be less than 3-1/2 inches wide or more than 9 inches wide. Elevated platforms, ramps and ladders need adequate guardrails to prevent falls.

•Check equipment routinely for loose nuts and bolts, rusty or sharp parts, and deterioration from weather. Inspect the slide's metal surfaces, which may become hot enough in the sun to cause burns.

•Equipment with moving parts (such as seesaws and merry-go-rounds) should be checked for points that could pinch or crush a child's finger or hand.

•Swing seats should be made of something soft such as rubber or canvas, not wood or metal.

•Keep sandboxes free of hazardous debris such as sharp sticks, broken glass or bugs, and cover them overnight to prevent contamination from animals, including neighborhood cats.

•Play areas should be designed so that adults have unobstructed views of children at all times.

Safe playground equipment and close adult supervision are only half of the equation. Teach your child to act responsibly and follow some general playground rules:

•Never push, shove or roughhouse

•Use equipment properly - slide feet first, don't climb outside guardrails or stand on swings. Stay clear of swings while others are using them.

•If you jump off equipment, check to make sure no other children are in the way. When you jump, land on both feet with knees slightly bent.

•Leave bikes, backpacks, and bags away from the areas where you're playing so that no one trips over them.

•Avoid using wet and slippery playground equipment.

•Don't let children wear clothes with drawstrings or other strings, purses or necklaces that could get caught on playground equipment. The child could be accidentally strangled.

Dr. Gereige is associate professor of pediatrics and director of the Primary Care Pediatric Sports Clinic at USF Health.