How Safety Surfacing in Playgrounds is Preventing Children from Injuries
|How Safety Surfacing in Playgrounds is Preventing Children from Injuries
Experts say that outdoor activities are one of the best ways for children to make friends, stay active and healthy, and learn by exploration. Playgrounds are places specially designed for children to do all these things. And as a parent, you want to provide your young ones with the right kind of development.
Of course, you want your children to be safe as well. Unfortunately, playgrounds are also one of the places where most children injuries occur. From more information, you can call the flooring experts.
- How Children Injure Themselves
Children find endless ways to hurt themselves in the playground. The most common, though, is by falling. No matter how much supervision they have, you know that they will fall. The kids often slip, lose their grip and balance. Any parent knows that the smallest ones trip over their own feet at times even on the steadiest surfaces.
Most of the injuries are minor, such as scratches and scraped knees. Those are very common, and an inevitable part of most parenting experiences.
Sadly, the playground is also a fertile ground for more severe injuries. Broken bones, strains, dislocations and concussions all tend to happen. Although this may sound frightening at first, you can avoid many serious accidents with the right kind of care.
So the next step would be to think about what makes a playground safe.
- A Safe Playground
There are many ways to reduce the possibility of accidents on playgrounds. Parents and caretakers play an essential role in doing so. Be an attentive supervisor. Remove tie strings from their sweatshirts. Choose playgrounds with new or well-preserved equipment. That alone makes a big difference.
The very organization of the playground is also a crucial part of this. The playing equipment should be low and stable. Ideally, there are no holes or slippery sections.
But we are dealing with children here, and we should keep in mind that they’re likely to fall anyway. Thus, let’s talk about the surface on which they will land.
A playground surface is there to make the falls safe and painless. The cover should be thick and soft for the safe landing. That way, children are less likely to get hurt. If they do, it is much less likely they get seriously hurt. It should already be obvious how important that is for a park, school, or any other playing area.
- How to Choose the Perfect Safe Surface
Staying away from concrete is a must. Grass, sand, and wood chips are the best natural playground surfaces. And yet, these also have their shortcomings. Surfacing mats made of synthetic materials are a much better option.
A good-quality playground surface should meet certain standards. The weather conditions shouldn’t be able to influence it. It shouldn’t retain pools of water and debris from nature within itself. The retention can by itself be a danger and can make a small accident more serious.
Of course, whichever type of surface you choose, make sure that somebody cleans it daily. Steer clear of any place where you can find glass and metal pieces on the ground.
Play areas covered in safety surfaces are usually cleaner. Especially with brightly colored mats, every piece of junk is obvious. And that way, the place gets extra points for looking vivid!
- Regulations
The mat should cover much more than the equipment area. There are regulations and standards your playground should meet to be free for harm.
A bit overwhelming, isn’t it? If it does seem like too much to think about, be sure to call the experts. They specialise in installing the surfaces. It is their primary concern to make your playground as safe from injuries as possible.
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