Playground Safety
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Keeping Public Playgrounds a Safe and Fun Place for Children
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The sight of children laughing and playing in playgrounds at schools, day care facilities, public parks and even in their own back yards is a common and delightful scene. However, like with many fun activities, there are risks associated with allowing children to engage in recreation on playground equipment. These dangers can be reduced by following recommended guidelines for public playgrounds and public playground equipment issued by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). As a state designee and New York’s top consumer watchdog, the New York State Consumer Protection Board (CPB) joins with the CPSC in urging those who construct or design the construction of playground equipment, along with school officials, child care personnel, inspectors, parents and community groups to make sure that all public playground equipment meets these safety standards.
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To assist New Yorkers in this effort, the CPB has compiled resource materials which include the CPSC’s newly updated
2008 Public Playground Safety Handbook, a
Power Point presentation describing the highlights of this new handbook and the
Handbook Comparison Guide which allows for a quick comparison between the 1997 handbook and the 2008 handbook.
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While the scope of the above rules apply only to public playground equipment for use by children from the ages of 6 months through 12 years, the CPB reminds parents and caregivers of children that many injuries associated with playground equipment occur on home playgrounds as well and result due to an absence of adult supervision. A lack of information about how to eliminate many of the dangers associated with all types of playground equipment further add to the number of reported injuries and fatalities each year.
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Therefore, the CPB urges parents and caregivers to visit our Children’s Safety section on our
Publications page for our
Home Playground Safety Checklist
and 4 Tips For A Safe Playground poster
which provide tips on how to keep children safe on all playground equipment. We also encourage you
and your children to visit our Kids’ Page specially
designed to engage them in activities on and enjoyable learning about safety in
all activities and check out Champ's Summer Fun Rules for Playgrounds.
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| Remember this formula: education + information = keeping children safe.
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| Public Playground Safety |
