HD15 - Playground Safety Guidelines
Executive Summary: This report responds to House Joint Resolution No. 620 agreed to by the 1993 Session of the General Assembly, which requested the Board of Education, with assistance from the Department of Conservation and Recreation, to develop public playground safety guidelines. An earlier report by the Department of Education in 1992 recommended that state guidelines be established for playground safety. This earlier report was requested by HJR No. 473, and was printed as House Document No. 26, "Safety of School Playground Equipment." The purposes of the 1993 report are to provide information and recommendations pertaining to playground safety guidelines and to examine the feasibility of a standard reporting procedure for injuries occurring on school playgrounds. Persons who are responsible for planning and developing playgrounds at schools, parks, and other areas should benefit from the information provided in this report. In the preparation of this report, House Document No. 26, "Safety of School Playground Equipment", was reviewed. Valuable information was obtained from House Document No. 26, "Safety of School Playground Equipment," which contained recent survey data of school divisions and other state agencies. Regulations of the Child Day-Care Council also were reviewed and are included in the report. These playground regulations were developed in response to legislation passed by the 1993 General Assembly. The regulations apply to licensed child care centers, nursery schools, camps not meeting licensure exemption, public entities other than schools that provide child care, and before-school and after-school child care programs. The Council approved the regulations on July 8, 1993, to become effective November 1, 1993. The "Handbook for Public Playground Safety" issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was studied with other documents dealing with playground safety. These documents address critical issues such as surface, height, entanglement, design and layout, installation and maintenance, and information on age-appropriate equipment and design. The CPSC handbook exists for the public's protection and manufacturers are expected to comply with its provisions. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), defines an "accessible playground" as one "that when viewed in its entirety is readily accessible and usable by persons with various abilities." A section on compliance with ADA is included in the CSPC guidelines. A review of playground safety regulations in other states disclosed that Kansas and Louisiana have established such regulations. A few states have varying degrees of regulations; however, the majority of states have none. Most states leave the development of playground safety policies to the local school district. The resource that is most used by the states is the CPSC's "Handbook for Public Playground Safety." The project team examined the feasibility of using standard reporting forms for playground injuries and concluded that collection and analysis of injury data would be beneficial in determining causes of playground injuries and developing prevention strategies; developing safer playgrounds at schools, child day care centers, parks, etc., reducing school liability by identifying and correcting hazards; keeping manufacturers of playground equipment up-to-date on design and installation; and, providing feedback to insurance carriers on playground safety issues. A standard form has been developed that could be used for collecting information on playground injuries. This form could be used to summarize data for the school, the school division, and an annual report by the Department of Education. As an option, a multi-use form has also been developed that could be used to collect information on all injuries to students, including injuries occurring on school playgrounds. On the basis of the information examined, the project team makes the following recommendations: • The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's "Handbook for Public Playground Safety" should be adopted as the public school playground safety guidelines for Virginia. • Standard reporting forms and procedures should be adopted, including the Student Playground Injury Form, the School Playground Injury Summary Report, the School Division Playground Injury Summary Report, and the Virginia Student Injury Report Form. • Data collected on public school playground injuries at the school and school division level should be used by school divisions to develop strategies to improve safety. • The Medical College of Virginia, Office of Childhood Injury Prevention Program, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation should be considered as additional resources for school officials responsible for playground safety conditions. |
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