No heavy animal swings with rigid metal framework. Elevated Surfaces - Elevated surfaces such as platforms, ramps, and bridgeways should have guardrails that would prevent accidental falls. Preschool age children are more at risk from falls and equipment intended for this age group should have guardrails on elevated surfaces higher than twenty inches. Equipment intended for school-age children should have guardrails on elevated surfaces higher than thirty inches. Potential Head Entrapment Hazards - Enclosed openings on playground equipment must be checked for head entrapment hazards.
Children often enter openings feet first and attempt to slide through the opening.
If the opening is not large enough it may allow the body to pass through the opening and entrap the head. There should be no openings on playground equipment that measure between three and one half inches and nine inches. Where the ground forms the lower boundary of the opening it is not considered to be hazardous. Pay special attention to openings at the top of a slide, openings between platforms and openings on climbers where the distance between rungs might be less than nine inches. When children enter such openings, feet first, they may become entrapped by the head and strangle.