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| Tragedy in children's play area
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What are your responsibilities for safe play?
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Recently a six-year-old girl playing on monkey bars in a Sydney play centre was found hanging by her scarf. Just in time as it turns out, because although critical, she survived, was stabilised and is now recovering.
An investigation into the particular play centre in question (which for the record was an unregistered out of school hours play centre, not a registered child care service) is underway, with regards to number of staff on duty and visibility of the entire play area to staff.
Hundreds of thousands of children every year sustain injuries in playgrounds and while we all want kids to be out there, active and having fun, we and they need to be aware that playgrounds can be dangerous sometimes.
There are some safety measures and suggestions or "standards" regarding clothing in play areas in child care centres and out of school hour care and play centres, but these are simply recommendations and are not mandatory.
Kidsafe NSW manager of playground advisory Kay Lockhart was reported in the media as saying that provisions existed around requiring organisations to provide a safe environment for children for out of school care services.
"There is an Australian standard around clothing and toggle entrapment but the standard is not mandatory", said Mrs Lockhart. "There are clauses detailing that centres must provide a safe environment. These clauses refer to clothing entrapment but these only address the problem of when a user is immediately undergoing forced movement".
"That means if they have to go down a slide or a fireman's pole. Something like monkey bars would not be covered by this", she said.
However in child care the ratios of children to carers are such that children should be visible to at least one carer at all times.
Of course clothing and safety issues in play areas isn't simply a matter for child care and play centres. Kids spend most of their time in parks and playgrounds when they're with their parent, grandparents or guardians, not with a child carer.
It's so easy to think of taking your child to a park or playground for a bit of peace and quiet, time out while they get on with the business of playing and hurtling around the place, burning off some energy in physical activities. The fact is, however, you need to be vigilant - play areas can be dangerous places and parents or carers must be aware of and be able to see what their children are doing at all times.
This doesn't mean you need to hover around them. Children need independence and to learn how to navigate their way around playgrounds and equipment by themselves. It's all part of their development. But make sure you can easily see them and that all dangerous, dangling or loose clothing or accessories (like bags or purses) that could become entangled have been removed.
The most important thing is to teach your children playground etiquette and safety from as early as you can. This will ensure that they understand the dangers and learn to play safely.
The following tips from Kidshealth.org will help:
Safe playground equipment and adult supervision are extremely important, but it's only half of the equation: Kids must know how to be safe and act responsibly at the playground and on play equipment at home.
In order to help them stay safe, try to teach your children the following rules.
- Never push or play roughly 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.
- Always check to make sure no other kids are in the way if they're going to jump off equipment or slide, and land on both feet with their knees slightly bent.
- Wear clothes that do not have drawstrings or cords. Drawstrings, purses, and necklaces could get caught on equipment and accidentally strangle a child.
- Leave bikes, backpacks, and bags away from the equipment and the play area so that no one trips over them.
- Always wear a helmet while bike riding, but take it off while on playground equipment.
- Never use playground equipment that's wet because this makes the surfaces slippery.
- Check playground equipment in the summertime. It can become uncomfortably or even dangerously hot, especially metal slides, handrails, and steps. So use good judgment - if the equipment feels hot to the touch, it's probably not safe or fun to play on. Contact burns can occur within seconds.
If you and your children follow the above rules, playgrounds should remain a safe and happy place to play.
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