Safer Playgrounds

Each year, more than 10,000 children are injured at playgrounds in Canada according to the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program database (a Health Canada initiative which collects emergency room data from 16 hospitals across the country).

A new CSA standard provides requirements for public play spaces and equipment intended for use by children aged 18 months to 12 years.

Highlights to the new standard include:

• Head Entrapment: Requirements have been changed so that gaps in play space equipment must be less than 90 mm, or must be greater than 225 mm. This will help to prevent serious head and neck injuries.
• Protective Barriers and Guardrails: Protective barriers and guardrail heights have changed in an effort to keep children from inadvertently falling off platforms and elevated play surfaces.
• Fall Heights: A fall height is defined as the vertical distance between the top of a guard rail or designated play surface and the protective surfacing beneath it. As a fall height increases, so does the amount of protective surfacing required beneath it.
• Protective Surfacing: Protective surfacing zone areas are required beneath any piece of equipment from which a child could fall. Surfaces must be designed to absorb impact and cushion a fall. Protective surfacing can be composed of a variety materials, including woodchips, fine and coarse sand, engineered wood fibres and fine and medium gravel.
• Protection Against Entanglement: There shall be no causes of entanglement in any locations that could entangle drawstrings or other clothing on play equipment where there is uncontrolled motion, like sliding and jumping.
• Maintenance: A comprehensive maintenance program shall be developed for each playground as a whole by the owner or operator. Generally, all equipment shall be inspected frequently for any potential hazards.

For information contact the Canadian Standards Association (telephone (416) 747-2620; fax (416) 747-4292; e-mail andrew.wagar@csagroup.org).

Updated 2005 document