Falls from climbers, slides and swings share equal percentages of the pie. Different materials at varying depths give more or less shock absorption. They are tested to determine how far a child can fall onto the material without a life threatening head injury. This is known as the Critical Fall Height Value and must be equal to or greater than the highest accessible part of the play equipment. If the highest accessible point is 9 feet, then the type and depth of surfacing needs to be rated for falls from that height.
Entanglement are responsible for many of the strangulation deaths experienced on playgrounds.
Maybe you ve noticed that newer children s coats no longer have drawstrings and that hoods detach with Velcro. New safety standards for play equipment and children s clothing help to lower these accidents but new trends in these statistics are emerging. Kids are wearing more and more things around their necks today. Prizes, incentives, house keys, ID badges, photographs of favorite band members, and necklace charms are often worn on what resembles a round shoelace. It only takes 3 pounds of pressure for 3 minutes around a child s neck for death to occur.