Ask Yourself: What does a Playground Look Like Eight Months After Inspection?

This is your biweekly dose of playground knowledge from someone who's spent 20 years inspecting them.

In this issue, I’ll share some advice on playground inspections and how frequent they should be.

I’ll also share a sneak preview of something exciting I’ve been working on regarding playground monitoring, and how I believe it could revolutionize playground safety.

All that and more lies ahead in The Playground Post.

When a playground is first installed, they typically receive an initial inspection and, in some cases, an audit. If the installation was done correctly and all instructions were followed to the letter, these should be the easiest and most straightforward tests to pass. Many inspectors will tell you that your playground is good to go post-inspection, and, for the most part, this is true.

What they may not tell you is when your next follow-up inspections should be. In section 4 of the Public Playground Safety Handbook, the CPSC recommends a mixture of daily or weekly spot-checks for things like debris or loose parts, as well as monthly holistic checks for structural stability and spacing issues. The handbook provides detailed checklists of what to look for on your playground when inspecting.

What’s more, playgrounds should be inspected by a Certified Playground Inspector at least once a year, perhaps more depending on the size of the playground. In addition to the items in the CPSC handbook checklist, inspectors will check for full compliance with CPSC and ASTM standards, and ensure that your playground is not only safe, but set up for success to ensure its future safety.

If your state’s winter was anything like my home of Indiana, high wind and inclement weather hasn’t mixed well with playground surfacing. As more kids make their way back to the playground, do a quick surfacing check to ensure their steps will be on stable ground. If you have loose-fill surfacing like rubber or wood fiber mulch, use a rake to spread out the material evenly. If you have rubber poured-in-place surfacing, check for any cracks or gaps, as these could lead to bigger problems in the future.

Over the past few months, I’ve been pouring over data from playground inspections my company has done over the years. From most commonly-reported issues to average inspections-per-year, we use a wealth of data points to help inform our decisions. Based on this data, I noticed a trend - the more communication that occurs between playground operators and playground inspectors regarding potential safety issues, the more likely those issues get resolved, and the safer their playground is.

Sounds pretty obvious, right? Well, for too many playgrounds, this communication never happens. Why? Because there’s no feedback loop.

Imagine this: a slide is damaged on your playground, exposing jagged edges that could potentially cut a child going down. Because no clear way exists to report it, the danger goes unaddressed, and remains indefinitely. One day, a child goes down the slide, gets hurt, and has to have stitches. The kid’s parents are left wondering how this hazard could’ve gone unreported for so long, and why no one said anything sooner.

This where a comprehensive playground monitoring plan comes in.

Now, imagine a different version of that story:

A slide on your playground is damaged, and a parent notices the potential danger. They scan one of the many QR codes located around their playground, briefly describe in the report what’s going on, then submit their digital report to their playground’s decision-maker; in this case, it’s the principal at their child’s school.

The principal receives the report, and, seeing that his staff wouldn’t be able to fix the slide on their own, gets in touch with a certified playground inspector to go over next steps. The CPSI visits the playground, observes and records their findings, and goes over a plan of action with the decision-maker.

With this plan in place, the CPSI recommends fixes, and, once approved, returns the same day with the necessary materials and manpower to implement them. Once finished, the CPSI recommends additional steps to ensure the slide won’t be damaged again.

This is exactly the sort of feedback loop that’s crucial to any viable playground monitoring plan.

I’m excited to share that my team and I have come up with a system that will simplify playground monitoring in the way I describe above.

I’ll have more to say in the next issue of The Playground Post, so stay tuned.

If you manage a playground, you need playground monitoring.

More specifically, you need a way to ensure that safety concerns get resolved in a timely and effective manner, all on a consistent basis.

I’ll share more in the next issue about what I’ve been working on to make such a system a reality.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in how playground monitoring can effect positive change on your playground, reply with the word SAFE and I'll send you more details.

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Talk soon,

Nic Breedlove

Certified Playground Safety Inspector

20 years in the game. Still learning.