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Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Chicago at Children’s Memorial Hospital

Playground Safety Check Report

School, Center or Park: Mount Greenwood Park

Address: 3724 W. 111^th St. , Chicago , IL

Date: 6/13/05

Safety Reviewer: Amy Hill , SAFE Certified by the National Program for Playground Safety and Certified Playground Safety Inspector

Individual(s) Present: N/A

Phone Contact: N/A    

KEY to Report Answers

Yes – No problem found.

NO – Potential problem found - elaboration and examples can be found in the Comments section.    Where applicable, citations from the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) Handbook for Public Playground Safety and/or the American Society for Testing and Material’s (ASTM) Standard for Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Playground Equipment for Public Use are provided.

N/A – Does not apply or reviewer did not have an opportunity to observe. 

Any issues highlighted in red ink are serious and should be investigated/rectified as soon as possible.

Supervision

N/A- Adults are present when children are on equipment.

Yes- Children can be easily viewed when on equipment.

N/A- Children can be viewed in crawl spaces.

N/A- Playground rules are established and enforced. 

N/A- Children on the playground are free of necklaces, purses, scarves, drawstrings and bike helmets while on equipment.

Comments: 

Children on the playground are free of necklaces, purses, scarves, drawstrings and bike helmets while on equipment. – Parents should be reminded that children should not wear necklaces, scarves, etc. while playing on playground equipment because of a potential strangulation hazard.

Location

Yes- Playground is properly fenced.

NO- Playground area is properly shaded.  Metal slides do not face directly into the sun.

Yes- Site is well-lit and easily visible to the neighborhood.

Yes- Location is a safe distance from areas of active play like base diamond, soccer fields, etc.

NO- There are no tripping hazards such as tree roots, exposed concrete footings, etc.

Comments: 

Overall, the location of the playground is good – away from a heavily trafficked street and well-fenced but still visible to the neighborhood.  There is also a lack of shade on the playground and the metal slides were hot to the touch.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a warning about hot metal play equipment. (Attached) In addition, some of the missing pieces on the wood chip barriers are a trip hazard. 

Age-Appropriate Design

NO- Playground has separate areas for ages 2-5 and 5-12.

NO- Equipment has age-appropriate grips, step size, height and width of platform.

NO- Equipment is proper height. (ex. 4 feet for children ages 2-5, 5-6 feet for children ages 5-12)

Yes - Platforms have appropriate guardrails. (for children ages 2-5 guardrails are necessary for equipment 20-30 inches, protective barriers are necessary for equipment over 30 inches height, for children ages 5-12, guardrails are necessary for equipment 30-48 inches, protective barriers are necessary for equipment over 48 inches.)

Yes - Equipment design prevents climbing on the outside structure.

Comments:

Playground has separate play areas - Because children of different ages play in different manners, having age - appropriate equipment and separate play areas for children ages 2-5 and 5-12 is very important to playground safety.  National Program for Playground Safety (NPSS) recommends that playground operators place signage on the playground designating which equipment is age-appropriate for which age group.  Although the playground has some features intended for children ages 2-5 such as the spring rockers and the tot swings, most of the equipment on the composite structures  like the horizontal ladders(monkey bars), track rides, sliding poles, and  the spiral slides are designed for children ages 5-12. 

Equipment has age-appropriate grips, step size, height and width of platform. On the composite structures, there are several open rung-type steps from one deck to another which measure over 9”.  In the Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specifications for Playground Equipment for Public Use, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) states that for children 2-5, the maximum height of an open step should be less than 9 inches. 

Equipment is proper height. (ex. 4 feet for children ages 2-5, 5-6 feet for children ages 5-12). 

In addition, the height of most of the pieces on all three composite structures is inappropriate for children ages 2-5.

Fall Surfacing

Yes-  Playground surface is made of material that is shock resistant, rubberized matting or acceptable loose-fill material (wood chips, pea gravel, sand, shredded tires)

       NO- If loose-fill, depth of material is at least 12 inches.

       Yes- The protected surface extends beyond the playground fall zone (6 foot in all directions,          except swings which are twice the height of the swing beam in front and back)

       Yes- Surface is free of foreign objects, free of settling at impact points and properly drained.

Comments:

The depth of the material is at least 12 inches. The wood chip depth varied widely from play area to play area.  In some places (the north and middle composite structures), there appeared to be new wood chips under the equipment.  The depth in these areas is appropriate but they need to be raked.  On the south composite structure, the wood chip depth ranged from 2 -3 inches.    This depth is insufficient since the CPSC recommends 12 inches of wood chip depth on playgrounds.   In addition, under the KOMPAN train and airplane, there should be wood chip surfacing instead of concrete since the children could stand on the seats and fall to the concrete from a height of 12 inches.

Equipment

NO- Equipment is installed properly (put together correctly and anchored firmly).

NO - Equipment is well-maintained and free of rust, weathering, chipping paint, (lead paint possible on equipment built prior to 1978).

NO- Equipment is free of missing parts.

Yes- Equipment is free of protruding bolts.

NO - All bolts and screws are present and covered; all S-Hooks are properly closed.

Yes- Equipment is spaced adequately (at least 6 feet in all directions)

NO- Equipment is free of spaces greater than 3.5 inches and less than 9 inches.

NO- Equipment is free of splinters.

NO - Equipment is free of sharp edges.

Comments:

Equipment is installed properly (put together correctly and anchored firmly). - There is a serious problem with the equipment installation and anchoring.  The spiral slide on both the north and middle composite structures and their adjoining platforms and decks shake when being used.  Both of these issues (particularly the deck and post connection and the weld to the equipment anchoring) should be checked with Chicago Park District personnel to make sure they are sound.  In addition, one of the posts at the log roll on the north composite structure is very loose and should also be checked.

Equipment is well-maintained and free of rust, weathering, chipping paint, (lead paint possible on equipment built prior to 1978). The playground contains some pieces of rotting wood.  There are also some cracks in the plastic crawl tube on the middle composite structure.

Equipment is free of missing parts. The track ride mechanism on the middle composite structure is missing.

All bolts and screws are present and covered; all S-Hooks are properly closed.   Some of the S –Hooks are not properly closed.  Open or improperly closed S-Hooks can catch a child’s clothing and present a strangulation hazard.  (According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Handbook for Public Playground Safety section 12.6, “an S-Hook should be pinched-closed.  An S-Hook is considered closed if there is no gap or space greater than .04 inches” – the width of a dime.)

Equipment is free of spaces greater than 3.5 inches and less than 9 inches.   These spaces can entrap a young child’s head or neck in the space (CPSC Handbook section 9.6) (This type of entrapment could lead to a very serious injury and should be repaired immediately.) The following are locations where these spaces exist.  (Note – the yellow probe should be able to fit through the space.)

·         Between the spaces in the barriers on the north composite structure.

·         Some rungs on the chain climber on the north composite structure.

·         Some of the handrails on the north composite structure.

·         The spaces between the back and bottom of the seat on the firetruck structure.

Equipment is free of splinters. The wooden equipment has many splinters.

Equipment is free of sharp edges.  The metal firetruck structure has many sharp edges.

Specific Equipment – This section is for issues related to specific equipment not mentioned elsewhere in the report.

Belt Swings –The belt and tot swings are three swings to a bay.  In addition, the swings are 18” from one another.  The CPSC recommends that there be two of each per bay and a minimum of 24” from swing to swing to minimize the risk of collision. 

Maintenance Plan

?- A regular check is conducted to ensure all playground equipment is in working order.

?- A playground maintenance scheduled is established to replace missing or worn out equipment.

NO- Surface areas are regularly cleaned, raked and dried for loose-fill; rubberized surfaces are replaced when worn.

Comments: More wood chips need to be added to the existing surfacing as soon as possible.

  Additional Comments/Follow-Up:  There are several serious safety issues at Mount Greenwood Park . Since approximately 70% of all playground injuries are the results of falls to the surface, appropriate depth surfacing is a major component of reducing the likelihood of playground injuries.  Maintenance personnel should add more wood chips immediately and rake them regularly.  They should also investigate the shaking spiral slides, platforms and decks.  The other serious safety issues on the playground are the head entrapments.  Amy Hill is available to discuss these issues with you and/or meet you at the playground.  She can be reached at 773-880-3993.