Keeping your children safe is every parent's number one goal. According to the Centers For Disease Control, every year there are 200,000 playground-related injuries for children under the age of 14. In order to prevent these accidents, it's important to be aware of some safety measures that can be taken.
Types of Playground Injuries
Skinned knees, scrapes, and bruises are all common playground injuries in the course of regular play activity for young children. These injuries are considered normal. According to the CDC, approximately 45% of playground injuries are severe. These injuries may include:
Playground Injury Statistics
Data collected from the CDC and the Consumer Product Safety Commission highlights the dangers of playground equipment.
While all children who use playgrounds are at risk for injury, girls sustain injuries (55%) slightly more often than boys (45%).
Children ages 5 to 9 have higher rates of emergency department visits for playground injuries than any other age group. Most of these injuries occur at school.
On public playgrounds, more injuries occur on climbers than on any other equipment. Swings are responsible for most injuries on home playgrounds.
The top three reported injuries were lacerations, contusions, and abrasions (52%).
78% percent of injuries reported as relatively minor were to the head or facial region
Have a Playground Plan – Injury Prevention Tips
Having a playground plan is a great way to ensure your child can enjoy themselves in a safe and fun environment. Following these few safety measures and educating yourself on the dangers that lurk can make a big difference for not only your child's life but the others on the playground as well.
Actively Supervise
Being on alert and constantly keeping an eye on your little ones can help avoid a potentially catastrophic accident. Whether they are climbing, jumping, or swinging - active supervision is a strategy that works. Active supervision requires the parent to observe the playground environment at all times. In addition to actively observing, the act of actively listening is also a very important element.
Look Before You Leap
Scanning the surrounding environment before you allow your child on a playground structure is an extremely important step you can take to prevent a serious injury. Take your child to playgrounds with shock-absorbing surfaces such as rubber, synthetic turf, sand, wood chips, or mulch. Try to avoid areas with asphalt, gravel, concrete, grass, or dirt.
Dress Appropriately
Always be cautious of clothing that could potentially be hazardous on the playground. Pay attention to the clothing that could get caught or that your child could trip over. Items of clothing such as jackets or hoodies, untied shoelaces, or drawstrings.
Inspect Equipment
Broken equipment, sharp corners, splintered mats, and snapped suspended hazards (such as ropes or wires) are just a few of the many playground hazards. Thoroughly inspect all surrounding areas of the playground before allowing your child to run around.
Play it safe!
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This blog was sponsored by Ramsey Law Group, a Texas injury law firm that handles child injuries