Following the Plan Only Gets You So Far

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

In this issue, I’ll share an unusual story from when I’d just dipped my toes in the waters of the playground world, and what lessons I came away with.

I also included a brief discussion on playground safety, and why standards surrounding them exist in the first place.

All that and more lies ahead in The Playground Post.

Last week, I ordered a rug from Amazon that was slated to arrive in 2-3 days. I've had some inconsistent experiences with shipping to my house lately, so I wasn’t expecting to see the rug for 5 days at least. 48 hours later, I came home, noticed a tube-shaped package on my doorstep, and unpacked my new rug.

Then, I thought about my own customers' expectations when they order quick ship playground equipment, which we list with a lead time of 1 to 2 weeks. Our customers and distributors don’t just order quick ship amenities for fun; they do it because children need our products fast.

One of my first experiences with domestic shipping was with the San Diego Zoo. The folks there wanted an elephant spring rider shipped so they could install it alongside their new elephant exhibit. When we learned the only way to get it in time for the grand opening was to air freight it, I pushed back and said there's no way we could ship the order via plane.

I’ll never forget the zoo administrator’s response: “You understand we just air freighted the elephants to our zoo, right?"

I immediately realized that, when it comes to making shipments happen, anything is possible. It took some effort, but we ultimately got the spring rider on a plane to California, and got it installed in the zoo.

The reason I bring up that story is to show that building quick ship infrastructure doesn’t happen overnight, and there’s no one perfect way to do it.

Over the years, we’ve had requests come in for small but crucial parts that we carry in stock. Sometimes the customer can’t wait for an overnight shipment, leading our install teams to drive over four hours to the job sites, just so that the playgrounds could open on time. Is this part of our standard operating procedure? No. Is it sometimes necessary to ensure a community’s children can enjoy their playground without delay? Yes. And, in the end, that’s all that really matters.

Creating a viable quick shipping system isn’t just a one-time investment; it’s a process that’s continually improved upon, both by learning from past experiences and from ensuring that the right people are in the right positions to do the necessary jobs, from pickers to shipment auditors.

Sometimes we have to improvise, and that’s okay.

As long as the job gets done.

With the Southwest set for record-breaking heatwaves this spring and summer, it’s crucial to have adequate shade and hydration stations on your playground. Even just a small stand with some ice water goes a long way towards preventing heat exhaustion in children. If you’re shopping for playground shade products, look out for those that bear a UVE (or ultra violet effectiveness) of 95% or higher. The higher this percentage, the less sunlight will get through on those sweltering, sunny days.

Setting the scene: Ever seen a “Wrong Way” sign on a highway and wondered how someone could possibly risk life and limb by driving their car into oncoming traffic? Most likely, it’s because that exact scenario has played out before.

Playground standards and how they’re arrived at aren’t much different.

Zoom in: The Consumer Product Safety Commission governs national safety standards for playground equipment. The CPSC didn’t just create a bunch of guidelines out of thin air; rather, they studied decades of injury reports and emergency room data, then consulted with experts to establish a real set of actionable playground safety rules.

For instance: The CPSC states that openings between guardrails, ladder rungs, and other equipment can't be between 3.5 and 9 inches (sec. 3.3.1, Public Playground Safety Handbook).

The reason: Kids have a tendency to get their heads, arms, or other body parts stuck in such gaps, and when this occurs, they can (and often do) get hurt.

In a nutshell: Entrapment risks are just one of many problematic areas that Certified Playground Safety Inspectors look for when inspecting and auditing a playground. CPSIs aren’t just checking off boxes to ensure a playground complies with safety standards; they're drawing from their own experiences with playground safety, allowing them to spot potential issues that others lack the real-world know-how to see.

If you manage a playground, ask yourself one question:

Who knows when something changes between inspections?

If the answer is "nobody," you don't have a safety plan. You have hope. I'm building something that closes that gap. More on that soon.

In the meantime, if you want the playground safety checklist my team uses for weekly walkthroughs, reply with the word SAFE and I'll send it to you.

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Talk soon,

Nic Breedlove

Certified Playground Safety Inspector

20 years in the game. Still learning.