One of the increasing liability areas for public entities are playgrounds. Estimates are that every year the cost of public playground injuries is $1.2 billion dollars (Office of Technology, 2001). Using the figure of 200,000 known playground-related emergency room visits (CPSC, 2001), the cost translates to at least $6,000.00 per injury. For small communities and school districts already strapped financially, even this amount poses serious problems.
A quick solution to this potential liability would be to simply eliminate playground structures from public entities. However, this zero approach also has some serious social, economic and political consequences. It has been well documented that recreation amenities help to foster a sense of community, provide a drawing card for potential businesses, and are demanded by most citizens. Perhaps a better approach would be to identify the risk factors associated with the existence of public playgrounds and then, like other situations in the risk management field, institute a program to control them. This article will provide insight into a framework for determining the risk factors of public playgrounds and provide suggestions for implementing the S.A.F.E. within the community.
In 1995, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided funding to establish the National Program for Playground Safety (NPPS) at the University of Northern Iowa. Since then, the NPPS has grown to become the most comprehensive source for playground safety and injury prevention information in the United States. Early on, the NPPS staff, with the help of nationally known experts, formulated the National Action Plan for the Prevention of Playground Injuries (Thompson and Hudson, 1996). At the core of the action plan is the S.A.F.E. model, which is a visual representation of the four areas of playground risk. Those risk areas are: Supervision, Age Appropriate Design, Fall Surfacing, and Equipment Maintenance (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: The S.A.F.E. Model (available in full paper)
This is an interactive model, meaning that the more risk areas are present in a playground environment, the higher the probability that an injury will occur. For instance, if 3-year-old Molly is taken to a community playground and allowed to get on a seven-foot-high overhead ladder (Supervision issue), she will fall off the structure as she does not have the developmental ability (Age appropriate design) to move across the bars unassisted. If the surface material that she falls on (Fall Surfacing) is inappropriate-dirt, grass, cement, or concrete-there is a high probability that she will be injured. But, let's say the surfacing is appropriate-sand-but hasn't been maintained (it's at a depth of three inches), then again the probability of injury is high. The point is that to fully assess the playground environment, attention cannot be paid to just one area (i.e., fall surfacing or equipment maintenance). It is the interaction of all four areas that increases or decreases the probability of injury.
