Playground safety: working towards consistency to rate playgrounds

Background Despite efforts to improve playground safety, injuries persist. Parents and carers (caregivers) have a responsibility for ensuring the safety of their children while fostering opportunities for growth and development. Ensuring caregivers choose safe and age-appropriate playgrounds helps to reduce the likelihood of injuries and ensures an enjoyable experience. This study sought to use a publicly available checklist to review the safety of playgrounds to assist caregivers in making informed decisions around how safe a playground is for their children. Methods The KidSafe Playground checklist was used to review playground safety within Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The checklist explores areas such as fall heights, loose-fill materials, clearance zones, equipment design hazards, structural integrity, age appropriateness, environmental safety, supervision and accessibility. Results 11 playgrounds were audited as part of the pilot process. However, a lack of consistency between auditors was evident on four question items, and one question item was unable to be accurately answered due to the requirement for specialised equipment. Discussion and conclusions Given the challenges in consistently and accurately applying the checklist, it is proposed that a playground rating system to support caregivers to make informed decisions about playground safety and suitability be developed.

Injury Prevention

Injury Prevention

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1475-5785

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