RoSPA Play Safety : News

True Inclusivity in Playgrounds

RoSPA has always believed that play areas should be suitable for people of all abilities. This means that the elderly grandparent/great grandparent should be able to use equipment alongside their grandchildren. The disabled should be able to use it alongside those who are not disabled. Research shows that there are considerable benefits to elderly people if they have the opportunity of using play equipment.

“You don’t stop playing because you get old. You get old because you stop playing”

RoSPA are pleased that Hannah Moore BSc (Hons.), undertaking research for her postgraduate degree, approached RoSPA and at our instigation has undertaken research on the subject. Her research makes interesting reading with 72% of over 65s indicating that they would use a play area if they knew that equipment has been designed with them in mind. A copy of the full report is available to download by clicking on inclusivity.pdf (504kb) and inclusivity_abstract.pdf (22kb). Thanks are due to both Hannah and to Loughborough University for this valuable research.

This work is part of RoSPA’s commitment to be at the forefront of research into all aspects of play safety

RoSPA’s International Play Safety Congress 2007
Following the success of this years Play Safety congress,next year's promises to be even bigger.

The conference, held on 14th June 2007 aims to help play providers towards the provision of exciting but safe areas for children to play.

Click here to register your interest for next years conference.

RoSPA Bulgaria held its first training course on design of play equipment

On February 7th and 8th RoSPA Bulgaria held its first course for design of play areas and equipment.

The course, aimed at playground equipment makers, is adapted for Bulgaria and is centred on explanation

of the public playground equipment and surfacing standards BDS EN 1176 and BDS EN 1177.

Subjects for training included: Analysis of playground accidents; Play value; General and specific

safety requirements for play equipment and surfacing; Playground inspections; Product catalogues and

various examples of both faults to be avoided and good practice.

After the theoretical part, the course continued with practice on a playground in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

The practical training concentrated on equipment design, play value and possibilities of entrapment.

Representatives of leading manufacturers TES Ecostroi Ltd., Cozirog Ltd. and
Emil Bondev were the participants who, after passing a written exam, received certificates for their successful training.

Feedback from participants was very positive and it was agreed that the course will greatly help to improve play safety

in Bulgaria.

RoSPA forging links to promote safety in Korea
Safety campaigners in South Korea are forging links with RoSPA in a bid to reduce accidents throughout their country. A delegation from the Korean Association for Safe Communities spent three days on a fact-finding mission at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ Birmingham base. Find out more...

Playground Safety in Australia News
Fall from a horizontal track ride kills boy - Perth, Western Australia. Find out more...

Major Contract
RoSPA Playsafety is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the contract to undertake annual inspections of play areas on hundreds of Ministry of Defence housing sites throughout England and Wales. This major contract covers inspections for the next seven years.

National Playing Fields Play Areas
RoSPA Playsafety has been awarded the contract to inspect all NPFA owned play areas in the UK. Work will start in the spring.

Korean Visit
Kim Sam-AM Director General of KOSHA (Korean Occupational Safety and Health Agency) and some of his senior staff visiting the Playsafety offices at Kingston Lisle to learn more about play safety. Later they joined the Playsafety staff for a Christmas Lunch.

RoSPA in the Baltic States
We are pleased that the Playsafety Bureau, A non government organisation (NGO) has come to an agreement with RoSPA Playsafety to represent them in the Baltic States and can now offer RoSPA inspections and training in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Long Distances
Clive Dodd, one of RoSPA’s inspectors in Australia has been busy travelling over the Christmas period whilst inspecting. Due to the remote location of some play areas he has been covering 1000 km each day to inspect on average just two play areas. In temperatures of around 40 degrees in the outback we hope that his car’s air conditioning is working.

Mount Kilimanjaro
Not to be outdone, Dr David Eager, another of the RoSPA Australian team has spent the days immediately after Christmas climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. David, who is also chair of the Australian Standards Committee on climbing walls is a former member of the Australian SAS. You have to be tough to be a RoSPA inspector down under.

David Yearley, RoSPA’s Play Safety Manager (centre) presenting a RoSPA tie to the Mayor of Sofia (Bulgaria) (right) in appreciation of his help and support for RoSPA’s work in his country.

Important Developments in Bulgaria
RoSPA Play Safety, along with our Bulgarian Staff presented a seminar in the Council Chambers of the Municipality of Sofia on November 16th. The newly elected Mayor of Sofia broke off from his official engagements to welcome John and to express his support for what we are doing in Bulgaria. The Secretary General and the International Director of the Municipality also attended. The delegates included the deputy mayors of all the subsidiary municipalities (equivalent to the London Boroughs). As the mayor is one of the two or three most important people in the country his support is particularly welcome.

As a result of RoSPA's latest trip, and the efforts of our Bulgarian Staff, we have been asked to assist with inputting to relevant legislation in Bulgaria. It has also been agreed to hold a meeting in January of all the relevant government bodies/agencies and ourselves to progress development of safer and more exciting areas for children to play in Bulgaria. Our presence has been welcomed by all bodies, ranging from Bulgarian Standards to the State Agency for the Protection of the Child. We are currently cooperating in the provision of an “ideal” play area in Sofia to act as a model example.

Sofia Office
Renovation of our office in Sofia is now complete and our Bulgarian staff have “taken possession”. The offices are in a very good central location and have already been used to hold meetings with various bodies including, Bulgarian Standards, The State Agency for the Protection of the Child and Greenspace Sofia etc.

Web site goes international
Those of you who have looked at our web site recently will have noticed that it has gone international. Our home page now displays both Australian and Bulgarian flags. A click on either of these takes you straight into the relevant section of the web site. We’re sure all of you can understand the Bulgarian section! New Zealand and other links will appear shortly.

New Training Courses - University of Technology Sydney
Designing Play Equipment and Playgrounds for Compliance - Two Day Course
Accredited Playground Inspectors Course - Operational Inspection – Level 2 (3 days)

Further information...

The internationally accredited course for Australian playground professionals

The University of Technology Sydney is happy to announce the successful negotiation of an exclusive agreement to conduct playground safety training on behalf of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) in Australia and New Zealand.

For the first time in both Australia and New Zealand playgrounds will be able to be examined and certified by internationally recognized and qualified RoSPA Playground Safety Inspectors.

The implication of this is that the inspection of playgrounds will be able to be conducted consistently and to an internationally recognized, verified and achievable risk management level that has shown strong evidence of preventing both the frequency and severity of playground injuries.

Countries such as the UK where an international level playground inspectors training program has been in place for a number of years have a far lower incidence of playground related childhood injuries. Various counties and regions within particular countries acquire and count injury data differently. Notwithstanding, whichever way you count the frequency and severity of injuries, countries such as Australia and New Zealand that do not have an international recognized standard for playground inspection and inspectors have a significantly higher rate of injury. When measured on a percentage of population this rate is between 500% and 700% greater than countries such as the UK where RoSPA has been training and accrediting professional playground inspectors for many years.

Further details and booking form. Enquiries should be directed to Dr David Eager.

Spring Cleaning Your Play Areas

Spring is nearly here and it is time to look at your play area and give it a good “spring clean” tidy up to make sure that it is safe for the young people in your community.

• Check equipment and surfacing for winter damage and make good.
• Remember that April is a good time to remove trip hazards at the edge of safer surfacing by laying a bit of new turf, or adding some top soil and grass seed.
• Clean surfaces so that they are not slippery. 25.2% of all visits to Accident Departments for injuries on play areas are as a result of tripping or slipping.

If you haven’t already done so, now is also the time to book your annual RoSPA play area inspection and to consider if your play area is good enough to win a RoSPA Quality Award (see www.rospa.com/playawards for details). Even if you have a very small play area you might be eligible for an Enterprise Quality Award. RoSPA is particularly keen to see Parish and Town Councils applying for this formal recognition of their work.

Assurance for Insurance

Insurance companies are becoming increasingly concerned about the dangers of areas such as open spaces and playing fields as well as water areas. The recommendation is that these should be inspected by experts. RoSPA recommend that these areas probably only need a RoSPA inspection every other year and we suggest that by staggering the inspections the cost can be spread. For instance if one year the play area and small playing field was inspected and the next year the play area and pond were inspected costs would be in the order of £125 (plus VAT) a year. This pattern could then be repeated.

It is worth noting that the chances of a child having a serious injury on a playing field or in a water area are considerably higher than on a play area. That is because, whilst Parish and Town Councils have been showing a responsible attitude in getting their play areas inspected every year, they have not been doing the same with these areas. Now is the time to start to get these areas inspected also, to ensure that they are as safe as they need to be and to stop putting our children’s safety at risk.

Attention Local Authorities, Businesses and Volunteers in Scotland!
For the first time in its history, RoSPA Play Safety is undertaking training open to all local authorities, businesses and volunteers in Scotland on February 21st. The course will take place on February 21st at Ingliston; the One-day Inspection and Maintenance training with an optional Routine Level 1 RPII exam still has a few spaces left. If you and your staff are interested and would like more information, have a look at http://www.rospa.com/playsafety/training/oneday.htm or contact the Play Safety Training Manager, by email karen.viger@rospaplaysafety.co.uk or by phone 01367 820988/9.

Honk If You Love RoSPA!
If you see this guy cruising around playgrounds, don't worry! He's just one of the many RoSPA Play Safety inspectors we have around the UK and Ireland! RoSPA Inspectors can not be identified only by their vehicles but also by the RPII/RoSPA Annual Inspectors' badges. For more information on the inspectors' credentials, feel free to contact our office by email info@rospaplaysafety.co.uk or phone on 01367 820988/9.

Urban Areas
The national survey of play areas carried out by Townswomen (formally called the Townswomen’s Guild), in conjunction with RoSPA, shows that play areas in Urban Areas come off relatively worse than those in towns or villages.

Only 79.3% of urban areas have independent inspections of their play areas compared to 92.1% of towns. The survey also indicated that only 72.3% of urban areas were well maintained against 82% of town areas. Dog fouling (85% of urban sites had dog fouling present) and vandalism (44.8% for urban areas against 34.2% for towns) are other problem areas.

The British and European safety standard BS EN1176 and the Health and Safety Executive strongly recommend that all play areas have at least one inspection every year from an independent suitably qualified body such as RoSPA. Urban areas in particular have a lot of catching up to do.

Click here to read the full details of the national survey

David Yearley, RoSPA’s Play Safety Manager in his role as a principle Director of the International Play Association, looking at the Statue commemorating the Universal Rights of the Child adjacent to the Princess Grace Memorial Gardens in Monaco.

Bouncy Castles...a royally good time for kiddies!
They may be great fun but there are dangers around these inflatable kingdoms. Play Safety has FREE leaflets available and can provide information on the prevention of accidents so all the little princes and princesses in the land can reign safely! Contact the RoSPA Play Safety office by email, telephone, etc. for your copy today!

Frequently Asking Questions? Refer to our FAQs!
We provide detailed information sheets and answers to questions on our web site that we often receive regarding the technical and legal aspects of play area operation, installation, maintenance... well, you get the idea. Before ringing the office for help and advice from in-house technical advisors, refer to our FAQ page for guidance. If the answers aren't available, contact us by phone or email and let us know. We will make not of it and do our best to put the information of the internet. We want to keep everyone as informed and knowledgeable about playground safety as possible.

What a Compliment!
“I am so impressed with your site and the work done by your country on Playground safety guidelines and regulations. I am the Chairman for the Maine Emergency Medical Services for Children's Injury Prevention here in the States. We are a group of EMS personnel, hospital staff, injury prevention workers and interested parties that are working on various projects to reduce or eliminate injuries to children here in Maine.” Kelly Roderick

Copper, Chrome and Arsenic (CCA) Treated Timber in Children’s Playgrounds
CCA treated timber is often used in the manufacture of children’s play equipment due to the good protection it gives against rot. However CCA is considered to be a carcinogen (a cancer-causing agent). The main concern is the arsenic content. The risks are thought to be very small but a precautionary approach is being taken in this case. Timber treated with CCA is banned by EU directive as of 30 June 2004 in applications where there is likely to be repeated skin contact by users. From this date it will be illegal to sell timber treated with CCA for certain uses including the making of children’s play equipment. The Regulations do not apply to CCA treated timber already in use; there is no need for the removal of CCA treated items that are in good order simply because of CCA being present. The risk in this case is extremely low. If it becomes necessary to remove CCA treated timber when it comes to the end of its safe or useful life, then the material needs to be treated as hazardous waste and disposed of accordingly. This timber should not be burned or chipped for further use.

Advice on alternative timber treatments can be obtained from:

1. British Wood Preserving & Damp Proofing Association: 1 Gleneagles House, Vernon Gate, Derby , DE1 1UP ; Telephone: 01332 225100; email info@bwpda.co.uk .
2. Timber Research and Development Association (TRaDA), Telephone: 01494 563091
3. The Health & Safety Executive online: www.hse.gov.uk

I Saw the Sign!
Congratulations to Mayo County Council and Westport Town Council on one of the best playground signs we have seen. You may wish to consider using similar signs on your play area. There is a separate “No Dogs” sign.

Indoor Play Area Accidents
The Astra or Wavy slide has become very popular over the past 18 months. RoSPA is aware of at least16 incidents resulting in fractures: mainly lower limbs but also upper limbs, mostly to younger children (3 -8 year old). The explanation for these accidents appears to be that polished surfaces, either by the operator polishing, or through use (bums on surface) increases speed. The child feels the acceleration at the lower end of the slide but also separates from the slide surface mainly at the last rise; the child tries to rectify the problem by placing its hands on the side wall (sweaty sticky hands). This then spins the child sideways with no control at the run out area and lands badly, sometimes on the very end of the slide. RoSPA recommends that these slides should not be over polished as this may lead to accidents. Operators are advised that supervisory staff should regularly monitor speed of users on these items. There should be enough speed for the child’s momentum to carry them over the “humps” but this should not be such that the child looses contact with the surface at any time. The child should reach the bottom of the slide under control and not carry forward for more than approximately 450mm. Any light polishing should be done at close of business to allow the polish to consolidate overnight.

White spirits can be used and lightly wiped over the surface takes the top layer of polish off to help decrease speed of exit where this is excessive. Regular cleaning can be undertaken by using a mild detergent.

Provided that the precautions above are taken, these slides should provide considerable (and safe) fun for users.

Football Goal Safety

Over the last few years nine children have been killed by falling goalposts (in the same period only two children were killed on a play area). Football goal safety is an important issue. RoSPA can inspect your goals at the same time as they undertake the annual inspection of your play area or playing field. In the meantime the Football Association have some good guidelines on football safety and these can be found on their site www.TheFA.com . The Football Association carried out a programme of on-site inspection and testing of goalpost sets at a number of sites across the country.

Some of the findings are as follows:

• Of all goals tested, 41% of mini-soccer goals, 50% of 5-a-side goals and 22% of junior goals failed stability tests
• Ground conditions can affect the stability of goals therefore it is important to liaise with manufacturers on the appropriate ground fixings in relation to weather conditions
• Staff at every 2nd site were unaware of the safety campaign involving goalposts

More details are available via the FA web site www.TheFA.com. RoSPA Play Safety also has a FREE Football Association information leaflet on the subject. Please contact us for more details.

Capital RoSPA
The major cities in England, Northern Ireland and The Irish Republic use RoSPA for their play area Inspections. These include Corporation of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast and Dublin.

ISO 9001
The RoSPA inspection service is now ISO 9001 registered. ISO 9001 is the international quality management standard and recognises RoSPA’s commitment to quality. At the time of writing RoSPA is the only inspection service in the UK to have achieved this distinction.

Advice from Insurance Times
The following text is extracted from an article in Legal Report, part of Insurance Times:

“If new equipment is being installed, have a “health check” from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents ( RoSPA ) to ensure the equipment has been fitted correctly and is considered appropriate. A written report from RoSPA has great evidential benefits. Organisations would also be well advised to have a RoSPA comment on the design before installation.”

This underlines the need to have independent checks on equipment after installation. It also stresses that RoSPA can check plans prior to installation to ensure that any potential problems are ironed out before work commences.

For details see our playground inspections page. (Article Copyright 2002 and reproduced with kind permission from Insurance Times).