Balancing Between Playground Equipment Safety and Play Value in Outdoor Play Structures

Playground equipment safety is often the central concern of park and recreation professionals. With growing concern about children’s safety—some parents even prepping their kids with helmets and kneepads prior to play on outdoor play structures—play structure safety is frequently at the forefront of people’s attention. But with so much focus on playground equipment safety, it’s easy to forget that outdoor play structures are also meant to be fun.

The November issue of Recreation Management addresses the ostensible trade-off between playground equipment safety, on the one hand, and fun outdoor play structures on the other. The article, More Than Child’s Play, paraphrases Teresa Hendy, newly appointed board member of The International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA) and president of Site Master, Inc., and says that “every play area has risk, and in an all-out-effort to eradicate it, play equipment and designs had become dumbed down and boring”.

The question is, does playground equipment safety have to come at the cost of play value, and vice versa? Quality play structures ought to be able to combine the two elements without sacrificing one for the other.

So how can safe outdoor play structures retain play value and keep kids engaged? Playground equipment safety guidelines, such as those delineated in the CPSC’s Public Playground Safety Handbook, must be followed for all play structure designs. Though outdoor play structure manufacturers are still expected to develop fun play structures, CPSC stipulations can be quite limiting. Outdoor play structure designers must address issues such as the possibility of free fall from high play structures, the prospective hazards posed by nearby equipment, and the potential for limb and clothing entrapment.

It may seem that avoiding such playground equipment safety issues could limit play value. But with a combination of secure climbing designs, movement-based equipment, and robust play structure architecture, children should be able to fully enjoy their play with no sacrifice to playground equipment safety. For example:

• ElephantPlay climbing nets widen from the top down and have a maximum 15-inch net width to both protect against free fall and avoid limb entrapment. With an ElephantPlay climbing net, children are enticed to climb to the top of the net. The net rocks while they climb and inspires a sense of competition to reach the top as children have fun and exert themselves.

• Another common safety concern is clothing entanglement. ElephantPlay rotating outdoor play structures also have decks which rotate with the central post to avoid entrapment. Rotating play structures still stimulate and challenge kids with dynamic spinning movement, but at no threat to their safety. The rotation encourages children to collaborate in spinning the play structure.

• ElephantPlay multi-user swing sets offer both high play structure stability and the opportunity for social play with multiple children on a single swing. The round, ergonomic shape of the swing set seat gives children confidence and stability and enriches the play experience.

Play value should never have to be sacrificed for playground equipment safety. With innovative conceptions and a little design creativity, kids can enjoy outdoor play structures that are both safe and fun.