School Playgrounds How do we Maintain Them? By Shelley Wagner Active Recreation Inc.

Why do we have playgrounds? > Physical Activity > Children s s heart rates average 150 bpm on playgrounds > Children s s heart rates average 132 bpm during physical education classes > Children s s heart rates average 90-105 bpm during normal activity Source: Frost 2004

If we have playgrounds, what is our job? To maintain them!!! These are areas that we are designating for children to play. 41% of insurance claims are due to equipment misuse.but.but. 40% of insurance claims are due to maintenance issues.

Playground Injuries in Canada Per year, 28,500 children are injured on playground equipment. 70% of these injuries are due to falls to the surfacing. Can we prevent this? Do we have control over this? Lawsuits are on the rise we want to do everything we can to make our playgrounds safe

Are we reducing injuries? Toronto Star 2007-07 07-19 article Playground upgrades lead to fewer head injuries Hospital admissions have reduced for head injuries. In 2002-2003 2003 it was 1 in 5 It is now 1 in 15 according to the Canadian Institute of Health Information

Why are we here?

Playground Fatalities in Canada > 18 fatalities on play equipment in Canada from 1982 to 2002 17 from entanglements 1 from head fracture (i.e. from fall) 3 since 2002 (1 from entanglement, 2 from entrapment) Data collected from CHIRPP, NEISS, CDC, Canadian Institute of Child Health, and Safe Kids

Risk vs. Hazard It is important for child development to have risk, but what we don t t want are hidden hazards Risk allows a user to identify a challenge and make a decision (using a spiral slide for the first time) Hazard something not obvious to the user the could cause injury (cracked component, worn s-hook) s

Playground Standards CAN/CSA Z614 Children s s Playspaces and Equipment is the standard in Canada for evaluating playground equipment. Voluntary standard except in childcare. Insurance companies are starting to request their clients to have a 3 rd party inspection yearly as a risk management tool.

Hazard Rating Non-compliance issues are classified into hazard ratings based on their severity and potential to cause injury Example: A-B-C A C hazard rating A hazards could cause a fatality or a severely debilitating injury B hazard could cause injury, but not life threatening C hazard could cause minor injury or just non-compliant

A Hazard Examples Time frame: Fix ASAP Protective surfacing issues Entanglements Entrapments

B Hazard Examples Time frame: Fix within the next few months Crush and shear Protrusions Bolts beyond 2 threads Looping

C Hazard Examples Time Frame: Fix it when money allows Handrails are too low or too high Lack of owner/operator signage, manufacturers signage and/or age appropriate signage Insufficient no-encroachment zone

Playground Surfacing Why is surfacing so important? 70% of injuries happen due to falls to the surfacing. Surfacing is usually not well maintained and easily looked over Not every surfacing material is appropriate for every location Proper drainage is a must for every type of surface.

Is this surfacing acceptable?

Acceptable surfacing material Engineered wood fibre Wood chips Sand Pea stone Synthetic rubber Synthetic poured-in in-place rubber tiles Shredded rubber

Engineered Wood Fibre

Engineered Wood Fibre Processed, contains no bark or sharp edges and is fire resistant Weaves together to provide resiliency Advantages: Wheelchair accessible Stays in place better than most loosefill Easy to maintain (no rototilling) Excellent resiliency

Engineered Wood Fibre Disadvantages: Initially more expensive Can support fungal growth if proper drainage is not provided Decomposes over time Can conceal foreign objects Requires top-up every 3-53 5 years

Drainage required

Wood Chips

Advantages: Inexpensive Easy to maintain Readily available Disadvantages: Wood Chips Decomposes Requires top-up every 1-31 3 years Can scatter easily

Maintenance for Wood Products Fluff up the material do not rototill Redistribute surfacing material under high use areas such as at the end of slides and under swings on a daily/weekly basis. Remove any foreign objects from the surfacing.

Sand

Sand Advantages: Low cost Readily available non-flammable Disadvantages: Cat s s use as litter box Compacts easily required rototilling Not considered an accessible surface Top-up required every 1-31 3 years **Make sure to use sand that is designed not to compact!

Pea Stone

Advantages: Pea Stone Low cost Readily available Less attractive to animals Disadvantages: Pea stone travels end up with ball bearing affect Becomes hard pan very quickly Requires a top up every 1-21 2 years **Pea stone needs to be small, rounded and clean particles; not sharp, crushed or irregular pieces.

Pea Stone

Pea Stone contaminated with dirt

Pea Stone Crust Layer

Loose fill (Sand, Pea Stone) Requires rototilling at least once a year, preferably every season.

Loose fill - Maintenance Continue to replace surfacing material under high- use areas such as under swings

and at the end of slides.

Synthetic Rubber

Synthetic Tile

Synthetic Rubber / Tiles Advantages: Wheel chair accessible Easy to clean Consistent Lower maintenance costs over time Disadvantages: High cost initially Wide variation of quality Requires professional installation Tiles can come apart **It is the air pockets between the pieces of rubber that give this surfacing its resiliency. If not properly cleaned, its resiliency will deteriorate quickly.

Maintenance for Rubber Products Vacuum or use a leaf blower to remove debris from the rubber surface. ***Do not place a rubber surface near other loose fill surfaces except for wood products because it will contaminate your rubber which will reduce the life of your product and possibly affect your warranty.

Sandbox beside a rubber surface

Shredded Rubber

Advantages: Durable Easy to install Easy to clean Disadvantages: Shredded Rubber Higher initial cost Requires professional installation Black residue Wide variation in quality

A trip hazard is something that is not clear and obvious to the user. Increase height of border to contain surfacing and reduce trip hazard Trip Hazard

Protective Surfacing Zone The area of protective surfacing beneath and adjacent to the play equipment

Protective Surfacing Zone Minimum of 1800mm (70.87 in) from the outside edge of the equipment

Protective Surfacing Depth Minimum of 300mm (11.81in) in depth Only way to truly determine if surfacing is sufficient is through impact testing using a Triax 2000 system.

Impact Testing - Triax 2000 Cannot exceed a 200 gmax and 100 Head Injury Criteria (HIC)

Drawstring Entanglement Most fatalities on playgrounds have happened on slides and swing top rails. Entanglement is when the users clothing or something around the users neck gets caught on a piece of playground equipment. Test for entanglements on slides and sliding poles.

Drawstring Entanglement

Entanglement fixes

Entanglement Protrusions A projection pointing upward that someone s s clothing could get caught on or something could be hung from it. Very commonly found on the bearing hardware on swing top rails.

Entanglement Protrusion

Head and Neck Entrapment Anything that prevents or impedes the removal of a body part that has penetrated an opening. The body can enter the opening but the head cannot.

Head and Neck Entrapment

Inspections

How often & what do I look for? Daily/weekly inspections Can be completed by someone with very limited playground knowledge Looking for obvious hazards, broken components and foreign objects in the surfacing Re-distributing surfacing material

Daily / Weekly Inspection

Monthly Inspection To be completed by someone with playground training (Canadian Playground Safety Institute or Ontario Playground Academy) Must be entered into a permanent playground file Table B in CAN/CSA Z614 has sample maintenance checklist

Monthly Inspections / Maintenance Testing for compliance to the CSA standard Looking for loose hardware, stiff bearings, broken components, cracked components, entanglements, open fastening devices, structural integrity issues

Is this ok?

Annual Inspection Once a year, a post-tops tops to foundations inspection to be completed Use probes and gauges Must be entered into a permanent file To be completed by a trained playground inspector Many insurance companies recommend this inspection to be completed by a 3 rd party inspector

Prior-to to-use inspection Complete this inspection once new equipment and surfacing has been installed and before releasing the final 20% of the payment to manufacturer. To be completed prior to opening the playground up to the public You may have bought compliant equipment, but it may not have been installed correctly.

Awareness no bike helmets to be warn on the play equipment

Awareness - Caution Tape Caution tape can be a strangulation hazard use snow fencing or portable fencing to block access to your play equipment.

Fencing Portable fencing Snow fencing

Thank-you Questions?