By Shona Dodd, Senior Health and Safety Specialist, All About People

I had the recent experience of taking my grandkids to the Margaret Mahy park in Christchurch, wow what a fun day. It was packed, there were kids running around everywhere; jumping, climbing, sliding, swinging, flying on the flying fox, digging in the sand, and paddling in the water. No one seemed to be crying and there was a lot of laughing with big kids and little kids alike all mixed in together. 

As a Health and Safety specialist a couple of comparisons to a workplace struck me (as play is definitely work for wee people). Here’s what I observed:

All the equipment they were playing on was safe for them to do so. Yes, the giant slide is high, yes it’s steep and boy, is it wide! But what I saw with this piece of playground equipment is that it is embedded in the hill (for the want of a better word because I got vertigo at the top) and to get to it you climb up the climbing wall. There are hand holds adequately spaced for the kids who can’t run up it to use, or you can walk up the path at the bottom of the hill and wind your way up to the top.  The bigger kids helped the smaller kids by lining up and taking turns with no one pushing in.  At the top of the slide when one wee person decided it was too steep and they seemed frozen, the child next to them put out their hand and together they went down the slide…..great example of team work.

The other thing I noticed was when my grandson (as 4 year old boys are want to do) decided that he wanted to go up the slide from the bottom instead of down it from the top. The other kids playing on the slide helped him realise doing it that way was going to get him hurt.

What the kids did naturally was:

• Help each other out when they got stuck
• Use the equipment that was provided to help them achieve the goal of getting to the top of the slide so they could use it
• Say to each other “Doing it that way will get you hurt”, “Come this way”, or “Let me help you get it right so you stay safe” (adult words here but that’s what they meant
• They checked it was safe for them to slide before they left go of the hand rail at the top
• And when they got to the bottom they exited the slide and went right back up the top the correct way. 

What the designers of the park have done:

• Provided equipment that is as safe as possible for the job that it is designed to do –  let kids explore, learn and enjoy the environment they are in
• Provide a ground cover in the park so that if running jumping sliding and swinging is the order of the day then it can be done safely
• Provide risk and a challenge in a way that allows wee people to learn (and of cause Grandmas to be there to catch and support with a hearty smile and cuddle when they succeed). 

What the parents were doing – Yes, we were all standing around talking to each other but we were also:

• Watching
• Guiding and advising
• Assisting by holding hands
• And supporting by encouragement

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all our places of work, worked the same way with these wonderful behaviours?  So when you go to work today, look out the that person beside you and extend your hand so they can “use the slide” and have some fun.

So what makes a safe playground? Tina Dyer, Annual Main Inspector at Park Central, is on the Register of Playground Inspectors International, and she shares her guidelines on getting it right so those kids can play.

The playground is a dynamic space, that will change with use.  Regular inspections and maintenance are needed to keep the playground in good working order.  However, it cannot be assumed that children will identify a broken or worn part and recognise it as a hazard. 

The playground standards are a measure of good practice, and in many cases there is a legal requirement to comply.   The playgrounds standards outline how a playground should be designed, constructed installed and maintained.   

When the playground is installed, it should be signed off for compliance to playground safety standards. There is an assumption that the equipment is compliant at this time- many playgrounds are not installed correctly and or are not compliant from the day they are installed.

To maintain a playground in a safe manner it requires:

• Regular maintenance
• Routine inspections
• Annual inspection

These inspections are outlined in the playground standards, but basically cover the following:

• Regular maintenance involves routine inspection that will address cleanliness, raking of loose fill, identification of broken parts, hazards from vandalism, use or weather conditions.  This is normally undertaken weekly.
• Routine inspection is undertaken every 3-4 months to identify parts that are wearing and stability.
• The Annual main inspection is undertaken yearly to check for long term levels of safety.