Back to Top
Facts on Playground Injury
Each year an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 children in Canada are treated in hospital emergency departments for playground injuries. 1 Of these, about 1,700 will require admission to hospital. 2
Eighteen playground deaths have been reported since 1982. Seventeen of these deaths were due to strangulation when drawstrings, skipping ropes, scarves, or loose clothing became entangled in playground equipment or fences, or when a child wearing a bike helmet got his/her head trapped in an opening in playground equipment. The other death was the result of a head fracture. 3
Falls account for almost three quarters of all playground injuries. 4 Most falls involve climbers, slides or swings. 5
Five to nine year olds are the age group most frequently injured on playgrounds. 6 This is likely because they are able to play at greater heights but lack a sense of danger. A typical injury for five to nine year olds is a fracture after a fall from a climber.
About one in every five playground injuries happens at home. Preschoolers (one to four year olds) are more likely to get hurt at home than older children, and swings are involved in about half of all home playground injuries. 7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 This estimate is based on an extrapolation of sample emergency department data and assumes that injury patterns for playgrounds are similar across Canada. Data sources: Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). OntarioTrauma Registry Analytic Bulletin: Sports and Recreational Injury Hospitalizations in Ontario, 2002-2003. Toronto: CIHI, 2004; and Health Canada, Child Injury Division, personal communication, October 1999.
2 Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), National Trauma Registry, Minimal Dataset. Hospitalizations data: numbers of injury admissions by age, sex, season and type of injury, FY 1999-2001. Unpublished data.
3 Health Canada, Product Safety Bureau, personal communication, October 1999; updated January 2005. No playground deaths were reported to Health Canadain 2000 – 2004, although seven near-miss strangulations have been reported.
4 Lesage D and Laforest S. Playground equipment injuries: circumstances, natures of injuries and opportunities for action. Chapter 12 in For the Safety of Canadian Children and Youth: From Injury Data to Preventive Measures. Ottawa: Health Canada, 1997.
5 Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP). Injuries associated with playground equipment, CHIRPP database for 1996.
6 CIHI, ibid.
7 Lesage and Laforest, ibid.
Back to Top
Playground Safety Tips
These safety tips are based on the playground safety standards published by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) in 1998, along with other research and expert advice. The CSA Standard was revised in 2003. For more information on the CSA Standard for playground safety, click here. PlaySafe Tips document.
1. Before you go, check your child
Take off anything that could strangle your child. Take off any strings or drawstrings on your child's clothing. In winter, use clips instead of strings to hold the mittens. Your child can wear a neck warmer instead of a scarf. Make sure your child puts aside skipping ropes and bike helmets before climbing on playground equipment.
2. Check the playground before your child plays
Choose a playground with a deep, soft surface or a rubber surface instead of one with a dirt or grass surface. The ground should have soft rubber mats or lots of sand, pea gravel, or wood chips. These will help protect your child when he or she falls. If the surface in your playground is not deep and soft, keep your child on equipment that is close to the ground.
Dig the heel of your shoe into the surface to see how deep it is. It should be at least six to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimetres) deep. If the surface has worn away at the bottom of a slide or under a swing, you can push more of it into place with your shoe.
Before you let your child use any equipment that he or she might fall off, make sure it has good handrails, barriers and railings to prevent falls.
Watch out for areas where your child's head or neck could get stuck. Spaces might be big enough for your child's body but might trap his or her head or neck. This could strangle your child. Safe spaces are smaller than 3 ½ inches (nine centimetres) and larger than nine inches (22.5 centimetres). Places to check include the spaces between the steps on a slide, and spaces between railings. Watch your child closely.
Check for broken glass, garbage, sharp edges, and bolts that stick out. Pick up any glass or garbage before your child plays. If your child is old enough, teach him or her to stay away from sharp edges or bolts. Watch a young child closely to prevent him or her from bumping into sharp edges.
3. Supervise your child closely
Teach your child these rules for playground safety:
- Wait your turn.
- Slide down feet first.
- Don't go up the slide ladder until the other person has gone down the slide.
- Hold on to railings.
- Sit down on swings and slides.
- Keep away from moving swings and the bottom of slides.
If your child is between five and nine years, watch what he or she is doing. Children this age like to take chances. Make sure your child uses equipment safely.
If your child is younger than five years old:
- Keep your child off equipment that is higher than five feet (1.5 metres). Five feet is about as high as most adults can easily reach. Do not let your young child go any higher than that.
- Stand right beside your child when he or she is climbing, riding in a swing or playing on equipment above the ground. You should be able to reach your child easily at all times. You should be able to prevent him or her from falling.
- Stay close at all times. Follow your child as he or she moves around the playground.
- Keep your child off equipment that is meant for older children. Playgrounds often have equipment for two different groups of children: children younger than five years, and older children from five to 12 years. If your child cannot reach a piece of equipment, then he or she should not use it. It is meant for older children.
Is your playground safe?
Your playground may not meet Canada's standards for safety. Many playgrounds do not.
If your playground does not have a deep, soft surface or if you think some of the equipment is unsafe, call the group that looks after the playground to let them know.
Why is supervision so important?
Many playground injuries happen when children are not watched closely enough. Stay close to your child and teach him or her how to play safely.
How high is the equipment at your playground?
Children are most likely to be seriously injured if they fall from equipment higher than five feet (1.5 metres). Children under five should not be allowed on equipment higher than five feet. If your older child uses equipment that is higher than five feet, make sure it has good barriers to prevent falls and a deep, soft surface under it. And watch closely while he or she plays.
Back to Top
Kids Under 5
How can I tell whether my child under age five should use a certain piece of playground equipment?
Most playground injuries to preschoolers happen because the children are playing on equipment that is designed for older children. The CSA Standard recommends that playspaces for children age five and younger be clearly marked and separated from equipment designed for older children.
If the playground you use does not have equipment labelled for younger children, here are two tips to help you know if the equipment is right for a young child:
If a child cannot reach the equipment by him or herself, it is likely too advanced for them. Remember that children get the most out of play when they can accomplish things for themselves. They feel good, they have fun, and they are safe. Under five years, stay under five feet.
- We know from research that falls from heights greater than five or six feet are much more likely to result in serious injury. And many playgrounds do not have the depth of surfacing necessary to absorb the impact of a fall from over five feet high.
- Active supervision for young children means you should be within arms reach of them at all times. If they are higher than you can reach, they are more likely to fall. Of course many parents can reach higher than five feet, but "Under five years, stay under five feet" is a good rule to follow.
Back to Top
Playground Safety for Preschoolers
An earlier version of this article by Safe Kids Canada appeared in the Winter 2000-2001 issue of IMPrint, the newsletter of the Infant Mental Health Project, a program of The Hospital for Sick Children.
Why is playground safety an important issue?
Play is essential for the healthy development of children. We build playgrounds as special places where children can stretch their bodies, take risks, expend their amazing energy, and learn social skills. We naturally expect that these special places are safe for our children.
But playground injuries are surprisingly common, often serious, and even fatal. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 children are treated in Canadian emergency rooms for playground injuries each year. More than 1,700 of these children will be hospitalized, usually for fractures or head injuries. Whether at school, at home, or in a community park, these injuries need not be considered a natural consequence of play. Many of these injuries can be prevented by improving playground equipment or the surface under equipment, as well as by actively supervising young children at play.
Research into the nature and causes of playground injuries is now extensive, both in Canada and worldwide. Playground operators (such as school boards, municipal authorities and day care centres) have responded by improving playgrounds as budgets allow. In recent years, a number of community and national initiatives across Canada have worked to increase awareness of playground injuries among the general public. Safe Kids Canada has produced several resources on playground safety, and playgrounds were the theme of Safe Kids Week 2000, a national public awareness campaign.
The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has developed the only nationally recognized standards on children's playspaces and equipment. The first CSA guidelines for playgrounds were published in 1990. They were revised and accepted as a national standard by the Standards Council of Canada in May of 1998, and revised again in 2003. The CSA standards, however, are not a law, and they were not intended to be applied retroactively. They should be considered the best advice we have on the safe design of playgrounds for Canada.
What are common playground safety problems — and solutions?
Falls: Falls from a height on to a hard surface account for 70 per cent of playground injuries needing medical care. These injuries can be prevented by increasing the depth of impact-absorbing surfacing under all equipment (15-30 cm or 6-12 inches of sand, pea gravel or wood chips, for example), by improving barriers (guardrails and handrails) on slides and climbers, and by ensuring that preschoolers do not play on equipment intended for older children.
We recommend that children younger than five play on equipment no higher than five feet. Research shows that severe injuries from playground falls increase at least twofold when children fall from heights greater than five feet.
Strangulation: This occurs when drawstrings, scarves, or skipping ropes get entangled in playground equipment, usually at the top of slides. Most fatal playground injuries are strangulation, and for the past 20 years one child each year has died in this way. These injuries can be prevented by removing the hazard from children's clothing, ensuring that children do not bring ropes onto play structures, and eliminating places where clothing can get caught in playground equipment.
Head and neck entrapment. This potentially serious situation occurs when a child's legs and body slip through an opening in playground equipment but the head becomes trapped. Simple measuring tools are available to check open spaces in play equipment for entrapment hazards. (Safe spaces are either smaller than 3.5 inches or larger than nine inches.) Bike helmets should never be worn on playground equipment because the helmet can trap a child's head during a fall, leading the child to choke on the helmet strap.
Pinching, cuts or crush injuries. Little fingers and toes get caught in gaps and holes in playground equipment. Keeping equipment in good repair and checking regularly for damage is the way to prevent these injuries. Exposed moving parts also present a hazard. Current CSA standards require all moving parts on swings, teeter-totters, merry-go-rounds and similar equipment to be enclosed.
Equipment not age-appropriate / inadequate supervision: Playground equipment is designed for different age groups. A climber that is safe and fun for a 10 year old may be hazardous for a three year old. The CSA standard requires that play equipment carry a label indicating the age group for which it is intended. Play equipment is often designed for pre-schoolers aged 18 months - five years or school-aged children five - 12 years old. The design is different based on the physical abilities and development of the two age groups.
Parents and other caregivers can help by ensuring that children use equipment appropriate to their age, by teaching basic rules of safe play, and by actively supervising young children on playgrounds. Active supervision means spotting the child on equipment, rather than watching from the sidelines. Many parents do not know how to assess whether equipment is safe or age-appropriate and can overestimate young children's abilities to use equipment unattended. A good basic rule to follow is: if the child cannot access the equipment by him or herself (for example, if an adult has to lift the child to reach the equipment), it is not intended for him or her.
Home playgrounds: Home playground injuries now represent about 20 per cent of all playground injuries. Information on safe surfacing under play equipment, which can reduce the chance of injury from a fall, is not always available where home playground kits or construction supplies are sold. The CSA standards do not address equipment for home playgrounds, but Safe Kids Canada encourages families to use them as a guideline.
During Safe Kids Week 2000, we and our 275 community partners promoted three key playground safety messages for families:
- Check the children (for hazards such as drawstrings, loose scarves, bare feet).
- Check the playground (is the surfacing adequate, is the equipment in good condition, is it appropriate for your child's age).
- Supervise actively (spot young children on equipment, teach them to wait their turn, hold handrails, not to push, and other basic rules of play safety).
A number of excellent resources are available for more information:
- The CSA Standard on playground safety, CAN/CSA-Z614-03 Children’s Playspaces and Equipment, is highly technical but is an essential resources for anyone who operates a public-use playground in Canada. Contact CSA at http://www.csa.ca/Default.asp?language=english or phone 1-800-463-6727. Hardcopy or PDF format costs $65.
- The Playability Tool Kit: Building Accessible Playspaces, produced by the Ontario Parks Association, describes how to ensure playground designs consider children with special needs. It is available in English or French, in print, CD, audio or Braille versions. Price varies by format. You can order the kit from the OPA Web site, http://www.opassoc.on.ca/ or by contacting Ontario Parks Association (OPA), tel: (905) 524-3535 or e-mail: opa@opassoc.on.ca.
- Revisiting children’s outdoor environments: a focus on design, play and safety by Anne Gillain Maufette. (book, English or French; cost $25.74) Published by COOPSCO tel: (819) 595-2377; or e-mail: coopsco@uqah.uquebec.ca.
- Building a Safe Playspace (guidebook, English only; cost $25). Trauma Prevention Council of Central West Ontario. Tel: (905) 528-8300; or fax: (905) 525-4994.
Back to Top
Home Playground Safety
What can I do to keep kids safe at my home playground?
These 10 tips are based on the playground safety standards published by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) in 1998 (and revised in 2003), along with other research and expert advice in Canada. The CSA standards do not formally apply to home play equipment.
1. Start with equipment that young children can use safely, instead of expecting your children to grow into the equipment. Young children are often injured on equipment designed for older children. To help make sure that your home equipment is appropriate for the age of your children, build your play space in stages. A good rule to follow: If a child is too small to reach and use equipment by himself, it is not designed for children his age.
2. Falls are the number one cause of injury. There are several ways you can keep children from getting badly hurt by falls from playground equipment:
- A deep, soft surface will cushion the impact of falls and prevent many injuries. Provide a loose-fill surface, such as sand or wood chips, of at least six to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimetres) deep under swings, climbers and slides to cushion falls. Higher equipment needs deeper surfacing.
- Keep heights low. For example, the CSA standard recommends that a balance beam for pre-schoolers be no higher than 12 inches (30 centimetres), and 16 inches (40 centimetres) for children five - 12 years old. Be creative — for example, build a slide into a hill. Children under 5 years should be kept on equipment lower than five feet high.
- Make sure equipment has guardrails or barriers to prevent falls. The CSA standards recommend barriers on equipment higher than 30 inches (75 centimetres) if pre-schoolers will be playing on it, and on equipment higher than four feet (120 centimetres) for children 5 years and older.
- Keep high equipment out of reach of children younger than five years. For example, remove the lowest rung of ladders to keep toddlers from climbing.
3. Swing seats should be made of soft material such as rubber or canvas. Many injuries occur when children are hit with a hard swing seat.
4. Make sure there is lots of space around equipment. The CSA standard recommends that there be six feet (1.8 metres) between any two pieces of play equipment, as well as between equipment and fencing or other structures. Swings and slides require more space. Many backyards will not allow this much space. Keep spacing in mind when you plan your yard.
5. Equipment should be firmly anchored in the ground.
6. There should be no points which can catch children’s clothing. Children have died from strangulation when clothing or ropes they were playing with became entangled in high equipment. Check particularly at the top of slides, S-hooks on swings, the joints of climbers, and nearby fencing.
7. Take off anything that could strangle your child before he goes out to play. Take off any strings or drawstrings on your child’s clothing. In winter, use clips instead of strings to hold the mittens. Make sure your child wears a neck warmer instead of a scarf. Do not let your child take skipping ropes or bike helmets onto playground equipment.
8. Always supervise young children at water play. Toddlers can drown in a few inches of water. Empty large pails and wading pools when you leave the play area.
9. Inspect your backyard playground regularly (several times each month) and make repairs or remove broken equipment. Look for signs of wear, splintering, or cracks. Check that bolts are tight and equipment is still well anchored. Check the depth of surfacing, and rake it to keep the surfacing loose and remove debris. Add more surfacing where necessary.
10. Supervise actively. For children younger than five years, we recommend that you stay close to children as they play. Be ready to catch them when they are on equipment. Keep them on equipment under five feet high. And keep an eye on the behaviour of older children; they like to take chances.
Back to Top
Where can I buy playground surfacing? What will it cost?
Sand, pea gravel, shredded bark mulch, wood chip nuggets and rubber mulch are acceptable natural materials to put under home play equipment. Many gardening centres and hardware stores carry these materials and can help you calculate how much surfacing you need.
Seventy-five cubic feet (two cubic metres) of natural surfacing material will cover a playspace 10-feet by 10-feet (three metres by three metres) to a depth of approximately nine inches (23 cm), and will cost about $250 to $300, depending on the material. Remember that natural surfacing will likely need topping up at least once a year.
Some types of synthetic surfacing are also available in family-size quantities. You may find hardware and department stores that carry loose rubber material in bags. Commercial-grade outdoor rubber mats are available from manufacturers. Costs run approximately $10 to $14 per square foot.
For possible sources of surfacing material, check under “playground equipment” in your local telephone or business directory. The US National Program for Playground Safety also lists a number of North American manufacturers and distributors of surfacing on its Web site at www.uni.edu/playground/resources/surface.html. The program also lists companies that make and distribute playground equipment at www.uni.edu/playground/resources/equipment.html.
Where can I get more information?
"Protective Surfaces under Playground Equipment: It’s Important Even at Home" is a guidebook on home playspace surfacing, equipment anchoring, and layout. Produced by Direction de la santé publique de Montréal-Centre (Montreal Public Health Unit). Available in English or French on the Internet at: www.santepub-mtl.qc.ca/toutpetit/les0-4ans/appareil/playground.html
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has safety tips for home playgrounds, available on the Internet at: www.cpsc.gov or by phone at 1-800-638-2772. Although this is not a Canadian source, U.S.and Canadian playground safety standards are similar.
Back to Top
Play Safe
Playground safety 101
How often is your child at the playground in the summer? The national average is 14 hours a week, says national child safety program Safe Kids Canada. With that much time at playgrounds, it’s important to make sure children stay safe.
Playgrounds are designed to challenge and stimulate children, and that’s why they provide opportunities to climb, swing, and slide. However, these activities carry some risks. More than 700 children will be hospitalized for serious injuries after falling from playground equipment this summer.
How can you make sure your child remains safe on the playground while still having fun? Some tips from Safe Kids Canada:
- Choose playgrounds with a deep, soft surface. This includes chips, pea gravel, or deep sand. A soft surface will help protect your child if he falls. If your local playground doesn’t have a deep, soft surface, keep your child on equipment that is close to the ground.
- For a child under age five: Keep her off equipment more than five feet (1.5 metres) high. Stand close enough to catch her if she falls. Teach her playground safety rules, such as waiting for someone else to go down the slide before she climbs up.
- For a child over age five: Watch what your child is doing at the playground. Older children like to take risks such as jumping off the top of slides and other equipment. You may need to remind your child to play safely.
- Remove all drawstrings from your child’s clothing. Teach your child to take off his bike helmet at the playground, and not to tie ropes or scarves to the equipment. These could cause strangulation.
Back to Top
Play Safe
Outdoor playgrounds are widely accessible across Canada and are most often free.
According to year 2000 research by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research
Institute: 1
- 95 per cent of children 1 to 4 years old use playground equipment. Playing on swings, slides and teeter-totters was ranked as the number one physical activity for kids in this age group.
- 87 per cent of school-age children ages 5 to 12 play on playground equipment.
- Survey research by Safe Kids Canada found that children ages 1 to 9 spend an average of 14 hours each week in spring and summer on playgrounds with installed equipment. 2
Injury facts
- Falls from playground equipment are the cause of about 70 per cent of playground injuries. (Other playground injury causes – such as being struck by a swing or another child, or being cut by a sharp edge or object – are not specifically captured in the way hospital admissions data are code.)
- More than 700 children (an estimated 730) will be hospitalized for injuries from falling from playground equipment this summer.
- Nearly 10 per cent will have head injuries. Head injuries are even more common among preschoolers. For kids under 5, head injuries account for one in every seven hospital admissions (14 percent) due to falls from playground equipment.
- 85 per cent of hospital admissions are to treat broken bones. These are injuries serious enough that they require at least one overnight stay in hospital for surgery, observation or other treatment.
- Playground injury deaths are rare. Between 1982 and 2000, 17 children died due to strangulation from playground equipment. No data since 2000 are yet available, but the number of deaths can be expected to be quite small, if any. Nearly all playground injury deaths to date have occurred when drawstrings, bike helmets or skipping ropes became tangled in playground equipment or when a child’s head or neck got caught in an opening in a playground structure.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Craig C, Cameron C, Russell S and Beaulieu A. Increasing physical activity: Supporting children’s participation. Ottawa: Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute (CFLRI), 2001.
2 Zierler A, Warda L, Pless I. Playground safety in Canada: children's injury exposure and parents' knowledge of prevention. Poster presented at BC Injury Prevention Conference, Syndey, BC, May 2001; and at Canadian Conference on Injury Prevention & Control, Kananaskis, AB, October 2000.
Back to Top
Sports Safety
Did you know?
- Sports and recreation injuries make up close to 20 per cent of all emergency room visits among children in Canada.
- In 1999, ice hockey, soccer, basketball, football and baseball were the top five sports that led to the most visits to emergency rooms for children 19 and under.
- Basketball, soccer, football, baseball and softball accounted for over 5,200 injuries in 15 hospitals across Canada for children 14 and under in 1998.
- 22 per cent of head and neck injuries in sports and recreation occurred in soccer, football, basketball and baseball in 1998. Changing playing rules, wearing protective gear, and using softer balls are recommended to reduce head and neck injuries.
- Encouraging children to play a variety of sports is recommended because children who play one sport year-round are more likely to have over-use injuries.
- Children are at risk for sports and recreational injuries because they are less able than adults to assess the risks involved. Young children also have less coordination, slower reaction times and less accuracy than adults.
- Children who do not wear or use protective equipment are at greater risk for sports-related injuries.
Ready for the season?
- At your children's annual check-up, make sure they are fit and safe to participate in their chosen sports. Discuss any concerns with your doctor.
- Fitness and conditioning prevent injuries. Children should be active 30 to 60 minutes each day, on top of participating in a particular sport.
- Kids should eat a balanced diet from each of the four food groups and drink plenty of fluids. Kids should not use athletic supplements.
- Provide the coach with emergency contact information for your child, as well as details of any medical condition or allergies.
- Ensure that the coach is prepared to handle emergencies and is trained in first aid and CPR.
Set to play?
- Get the right gear for each sport, make sure it fits, and make sure kids wear it properly every time they play.
- Kids should warm-up and stretch before every practice and game.
- Ensure the league provides adequate practice time. Practice builds skills and conditioning, as well as gives kids time to learn to play safely.
- Kids should remove all jewelry before playing, including watches, rings, earrings, and necklaces.
- Coaches and parents should inspect the playing grounds and equipment before each practice or game to make sure everything is safe.
Play safe to keep playing
- Ensure kids drink plenty of fluids before, during and after play. Kids should have a fluid break at least every 15 to 20 minutes. Water or sports drinks are best.
- Supervise actively. Coaches and parents need to help kids play by the rules, for safety and fun.
- Injuries can happen at practices as well as during games. Keep safety in mind every time kids play.
- Don't "play through" an injury. Injured athletes should be examined by a physician, preferably one with experience in sports medicine.