Washington Administrative Code › Title 110 - Children, Youth, and Families, Department of › Chapter 110-301 - Foundational quality standards for school-age programs › Sec2 IV - SPACE AND FURNISHINGS › Section 110-301-0145 - Outdoor school-age program space

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1) A school-age provider must visually
				inspect outdoor program space and equipment daily to ensure outdoor areas and
				equipment are free of hazards.
(2)
				Outdoor play space must contain a minimum of seventy-five square feet of
				licensed usable space per child accessing the play space at any given time. A
				school-age provider may develop an alternate plan if a school-age program does
				not have enough outdoor play space to accommodate all enrolled children at
				once, such as rotating groups of children to play outdoors or using an off-site
				play area. The department must approve alternate plans to use off-site play
				spaces.
(3) A school-age program
				must have shaded areas in outdoor play space provided by trees, buildings, or
				shade structures.
(4) Outdoor play
				space must promote a variety of age and developmentally appropriate active play
				areas for children in care. Activities must encourage and promote both moderate
				and vigorous physical activity such as running, jumping, skipping, throwing,
				pedaling, pushing, pulling, kicking, and climbing.
(5) Bouncing equipment including, but not
				limited to, trampolines, rebounders, and inflatable equipment must be
				inaccessible and locked. This requirement does not apply to bounce balls
				designed to be used by individual children.
(6) When the licensed outdoor play space is
				not immediately adjacent to the school-age program site, a school-age provider
				must use a safe route when moving to and from the licensed outdoor play
				space.
(7) For any program that
				does not operate on public or private school premises, licensed outdoor play
				areas must be enclosed with a fence or barrier that is intended to prevent
				children from exiting and discourages climbing. If the outdoor play area is
				enclosed by a barrier that is not a fence, the barrier may be a wall
				constructed with brick, stone, or a similar material.
(8) For any program that does not operate on
				public or private school premises, licensed outdoor play areas must be enclosed
				to deter people without permission from entering the area.
(9) For any program that does not operate on
				public or private school premises, fences, barriers, and gates must be in good
				condition, have no gap through which a sphere with a diameter of three and
				one-half inches can pass, and have a minimum height of forty-eight inches or
				conform in height to applicable local codes.
(10) For any program that does not operate on
				public or private school premises, the opening between a fence post and gate or
				fence post and building must have no gap through which a sphere with a diameter
				of three and one-half inches can pass.
(11) For any program that does not operate on
				public or private school premises, a school-age provider must not install any
				wooden fence, playground structure, or furniture if it contains chromated
				copper arsenate (CCA), creosote or pentachlorophenol. If wooden fences,
				structures, and furniture are suspected of having CCA, they must be tested. If
				CCA is present, fences, structures, and furniture must be removed or sealed
				with an oil-based outdoor sealant annually or as needed within six months of
				the date this section becomes effective.
(12) Within six months of the date this
				section becomes effective or prior to licensing, any program that does not
				operate on public or private school premises must have exiting mechanisms on
				gates from a licensed outdoor play area to unlicensed space that are equipped
				with a self-closing and self-latching mechanism (shuts automatically when
				released from an individual's control). A gate that is not an emergency exit
				must be locked or self-closing and self-latching.
(13) For any program that does not operate on
				public or private school premises, outdoor play areas must have two exits that
				must not be partially or entirely blocked. At least one of the two exits must
				not lead back into licensed indoor space.