Seven Tips for Keeping Your Playground Safe

Your Woodplay playset is built for safety. You can help ensure the well-being of children with these common-sense safety guidelines.

1. Provide Supervision.
   • Watch children when they are playing. Adult supervision goes a long way toward preventing an accident or injury on or around your swing set.
   • Beware of potential hazards and be ready to assist if a child needs help.
2. Know Appropriate Activity.
   • Be aware of your child's ability.
   • As a rule, equipment designed for children ages 5 and up is not suitable for younger children.
3. Prevent Hazards.
   • Make sure the play area is free of obstacles, such as toys or debris.
   • Allow ample distance from landscaping and enough space to safely provide the full range of motion for swings.
4. Perform Regular Swing Set Inspections.
   • Check your playset every few months.
   • Make sure hardware is secure and surfaces are smooth.
   • Openings should be smaller than 3.5" or larger than 9" to prevent potentially harmful traps in which a child could become stuck.
5. Prepare the Ground.
   • Falls to the ground account for almost 70 percent of playground injuries.
   • Make sure you have a proper surface treatment with materials at the recommended depth to cushion falls.
   • The CPSC recommends surfaces around playground equipment have at least 12 inches of wood chips, mulch, sand, or pea gravel, or mats made of safety-tested rubber or rubber-like materials.
   • The CPSC also recommends that protective surfacing should extend at least 6 feet in all directions from play equipment.
   • For swings, surfacing should extend, in back and front, twice the height of the suspending bar.
6. Know the Rules.
   Review your safety rules and good playground conduct with your child. For example:
   • Kids should not push or shove others during play.
   • Kids should never try risky or unsafe behavior or dare others to do the same.
   • Kids should know which areas are "off limits." If a child meets the size restriction for the toddler area, he should not play in the older children's area.
   • Older, larger children should not play in the toddler area and should always be careful around smaller children.
   • Children should not play or linger in front of slide exits or climb up slides when others may be coming down.
   • Children should understand the importance of alerting you when others play in an unsafe or dangerous manner. ("You're not being a tattle-tale... you're being safe!")
7. Know Safe Clothing.
   • Hooded sweatshirts or shirts with strings are extremely dangerous around playsets.
   • Children should remove loose hanging strings, necklaces and earrings.
   • Be especially careful in cooler weather to avoid dressing your child in clothes that may pose a risk of strangulation.