Introduction

Children love to play–especially outdoors. The outdoor environment provides unique opportunities for play and learning. Play is an essential component of healthy development in children, and playgrounds provide an opportunity for children to develop motor, cognitive, perceptual and social skills. (2) In New York City, where many children do not have backyards, playgrounds are especially important and often the public parks and playgrounds are among the only places children have to play outdoors.

However, children can only benefit from playing outdoors if it is safe. Outdoor play equipment, in particular, poses hazards to children when it is not carefully designed and maintained. The leading cause of playground equipment-related fatalities is strangulation, and the majority of these deaths occur on home playgrounds. Nonfatal playground equipment-related injuries, on the other hand, are most often due to falls. The majority of these nonfatal injuries take place on public playgrounds, including school, childcare and park playgrounds.(3)

More and more children are injured on playgrounds each year in the United States. According to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) data, it is estimated that, in 2003, more than 220,000 persons were treated in hospital emergency rooms for playground equipment-related injuries in the United States. Children under the age of 14 accounted for more than 207,000 of the injuries with children ages 5 to 14 accounting for more than 155,000 (or more than 70%) of these injuries. Sadly, nearly 52,000 children under the age of 5 were injured seriously enough from playground-related incidents to be treated in hospital emergency rooms. The public playground equipment-related injury rate among children ages 5 and under has doubled since 1980. Tragically, since 1990, at least 147 children have died from playground equipment-related injuries.

Many of these deaths and injuries could be prevented if playgrounds were designed with greater attention to safety. Playground equipment guidelines and standards have been developed and are regularly updated by the CPSC and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). At least seven states (including New York) have enacted some form of playground safety legislation. The CPSC has also issued voluntary guidelines for drawstrings on children’s clothing to prevent children from strangling or getting entangled in the neck and waist drawstrings of outerwear garments, such as jackets and sweatshirts. Children are at risk from strangulation when drawstrings on clothing become entangled in playground equipment. However, all these national guidelines are voluntary and the state regulations (including in New York) are not comprehensive in that they do not come close to addressing all the potential hazards posed by playgrounds.

In 2002, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the State Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) released their most recent playground safety report based on CFA’s “Report and Model Law on Public Play Equipment and Areas.” The goal of CFA/PIRG’s reports is to educate those who are responsible for and care about playgrounds–including parents, school administrators, child care providers, parks personnel and designers, so that they can make informed, safe choices about play equipment and the layout of play areas. CFA’s reports detail the hazards on playgrounds in the form of a model law with provisions for safety and design of public play equipment and areas. While no play area or piece of equipment can be made completely safe, careful design and maintenance can minimize injuries and save children’s lives. (4)

This report, “Playing It Safe–How Safe are New York’s Playgrounds?” is a follow-up to the CFA Report with a statewide survey of playgrounds conducted to provide a snapshot of the current safety conditions of New York’s playgrounds and to raise awareness of the safety issues related to playgrounds at the beginning of the summer outdoor play season.

Deaths and Injuries on Public Playgrounds

Children can be seriously injured while playing on playgrounds. Injuries can be sustained in many different ways.

Falls account for roughly 80% of all playground-related injuries and 20% of playground-related deaths. Protective surfacing, lower equipment heights and adequate fall zones under and around playground equipment can reduce the severity of and even prevent playground fall-related injuries. The risk of injury is four times greater if a child falls from playground equipment that is more than 1.5 meters (approximately 5 feet) high than from equipment that is less than 1.5 meters high. The risk of injury in a fall onto a non-impact-absorbing surface such as asphalt or concrete is more than twice that of falling onto an impact-absorbing surface. (5) Protective surfacing (especially soft fill surfacing) requires care and maintenance as a soft fill depth that is sufficient in April may not be sufficient in August if it is not replenished and maintained.

Other causes of injury involve impact with moving equipment, running into stationary equipment, sharp edges, protrusions, pinch points, hot surfaces and debris in the play area. Other causes of death involve strangulation (caused by entanglement and head entrapment), impact with moving equipment and equipment failures or tipovers.

Spotlight: Toxic Playground Risk Identified

A relatively recent concern in the safety of playgrounds is playground equipment made of pressure treated wood. Pressure treated wood is wood that has had chemical preservatives forced deep into the cellular structure of the wood. This allows the wood to maintain a chemical barrier against termites and other pests,

as well as general decay for long periods of time. The most common wood preservative and pesticide used for this process is chromated copper arsenate (CCA), which contains arsenic. (6)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) classify arsenic as a known human carcinogen. Long-term exposure to arsenic can cause neurological damage, birth defects and damage to reproductive systems, impair immune systems and cause various types of cancer. Children playing on playground equipment made of pressure treated wood containing CCA may be exposed to high levels of arsenic by placing their hands in their mouths after playing on the equipment or on loose surfacing surrounding playground equipment. This is due to the leaching of CCA out of the wood and onto surfaces surrounding the playground. Two studies have concluded that increased exposure to arsenic results from children’s contact with play structures. (7) Symptoms of arsenic poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, muscle cramps, face swelling, and shock. The EPA is currently conducting a risk assessment to evaluate potential exposure and risk to children from contact with CCA-treated decks and playsets, including the potential for increased cancer risk in children. (8)

CCA treated wood has been banned in Switzerland, Vietnam and Indonesia. Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Australia and New Zealand have restricted or proposed restrictions on CCA wood. (9)

In February of 2002 the EPA and the treated wood industry announced a voluntary agreement to discontinue use of CCA wood meant for use in fences, decks, playground equipment, and boardwalks in homes and playgrounds by December 31, 2003. (10) Two major home improvement chains–Home Depot and Lowe’s have stated that they will no longer carry CCA treated wood and will start carrying other types of wood that are arsenic-free. (11) The most common alternative to CCA is Alkaline Copper Quaternary (ACQ). It is recommended that all treated wood be sealed with polyurethane-based sealant in order to avoid leaching.

In October 2001 Rochesterians Against the Misuse of Pesticides (RAMP) in Rochester, NY tested several public park and public school wooden playground surfaces in the Rochester, New York area for CCA. The tests found several of these playgrounds contained elevated levels of arsenic. (12) Two of the playgrounds in the Pittsford area and one in the Maplewood area were closed and scheduled to be replaced by April 2002. (13) Similarly, in Buffalo, the CCA treated wooden playgrounds at both Windermere Boulevard and Smallwood elementary schools in the Amherst Central School District are closed; as is the Sunshine Park Playground off Massachusetts Avenue on the city’s West Side; ditto for the one at Eden Elementary School. The Sunshine Park playground and similar playgrounds were constructed with assistance by Leathers & Associates, an Ithaca-based company that has been advising some of its old clients on the options available to ensure their playground areas are arsenic-free. A recent Buffalo News article describes the closures and plans for making the playgrounds arsenic-free and re-opening them. (14)

In 2002, New York State legislation was signed into law to ban CCA treated wood from new public playgrounds. (15) It also requires that wooden playgrounds be regularly sealed with polyurethane-based sealant to prevent the leaching of CCA and other types of chemicals out of treated wood. This was the nation’s first law to ban CCA treated wood from public playgrounds.

Next: Survey Findings