OUTDOOR PLAYGROUND STANDARDS.

Every one's fond memories of childhood playground equipment and visualize playgrounds as dangerous places where injuries and also deaths happen. Using the National Program for Playground Safety, 200,000 children a year are injured in public places playgrounds and the other 50,000 are injured on home appliances. The buyer Product Safety Commission has issued voluntary public and residential playground standards to counteract the accidents that send children on the emergency room.

SIGNIFICANCE
Even though the CPSC standards are voluntary, the National Program for Playground Safety encourages all states to consider the standards as law. In 2010, 16 states have passed laws requiring any section of the standards to be followed. The NPPS offers training programs for school personnel, child care providers, federal state and local officials or anybody that might take advantage of the program.

IDENTIFICATION OF HAZARDS
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's research shows that 79 percent of injuries in public places playgrounds were the end result of falls from equipment. Sharp edges, collisions, hot surfaces and protrusions also lead to injury. Fatal injuries were attributable to falls, head entrapment and entanglement in ropes or clothing.

FEATURES
The surface below playground equipment must absorb shock to scale back head injuries in the event of falls. Appropriate materials are pea gravel, sand, shredded rubber mulch, and wood mulch or chips not chemically treated. Dirt and grass usually are not acceptable. The CPSC addresses proper layout of playgrounds. Equipment and play areas should be situated so caretakers cane easily see and monitor activity. The standards also address entrapment hazards where a child slides his body through an opening but his head won't fit. This may force the child to dangle, the strangulation hazard. An over-all rule is openings have to be small compared to 3 1/2 inches therefore, the child cannot fit his body through, or 9 inches to ensure the body and head would slide through. Instructions for assembly and maintenance can also be addressed.

AGE STANDARDS
The CPSC recommends that playgrounds are designed to be age appropriate. Different ages and development stages need several types of equipment. The safety standards divide the age groups. Toddlers are Six months to 2 years old, preschool age students are 2 to 5 years old, and college age are 5 through 12 years of age. The CPSC standards address age variations in regard to styles of equipment, size and in what way playgrounds are presented.

SAFETY TIPS
The NPPS advises parents to read the standards and inspect home playgrounds and public playgrounds inside their area for safety hazards. In addition, children ought to have supervision whenever using playground equipment. Ropes. leashes or strings need to be removed before allowing children to experiment with. Children probably should not wear bicycle helmets throughout the playground since the helmet might get caught on equipment and pose a strangulation hazard. When you spot any heavy animal swings, have them removed. They can cause injury as long as they hit a kid, and were recalled in 1995.