Playground Safety Tips | DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog

Playgrounds, swing sets and jungle gyms provide children opportunities for fresh air, exercise, and fun, but they also pose some unique dangers.  KidsHealth.Org, a children’s safety website sponsored by the Nemours Foundation, provides advice and facts regarding children and recreational safety.  The organization offers the following tips for children specific to playground safety:

• “Never push or roughhouse while on jungle gyms, slides, seesaws, swings, and other equipment.
• Use equipment properly – slide feet first, don’t climb outside guardrails, no standing on swings, etc.
• If you jump off equipment, make sure that you check to make sure that there are no other children are in the way. When you jump, land on both feet with knees slightly bent.
• Leave bikes, backpacks, and bags away from the equipment and the area where you’re playing so that no one trips over them and falls.
• Playground equipment should never be used if it is wet because moisture causes the surface to be slippery.
• During the summertime, playground equipment can become uncomfortably or even dangerously hot, especially metal slides. So use good judgment – if the equipment feels hot to the touch, it’s probably not safe or fun to play on.
• Don’t wear clothes with drawstrings or other strings at the playground. Drawstrings, purses, and necklaces could get caught on equipment and accidentally strangle a child.
• Wear sunscreen when playing outside even on cloudy days so that you don’t get sunburned.”

We previously published an article on how to protect your child from lead paint, you can access it here.