Make Your Playground Safe During Play Safety Week 2024!

For the first time ever, playground owners across the UK will be able to celebrate the inaugural Play Safety Week between 9th September to 15th September 2024! But, before we start celebrating and making our playgrounds the safest around, how about we learn more about this fantastic event.

What Is Play Safety Week?

Play Safety Week is an event which aims to spread awareness of what play safety means for schools, organisations and families. Throughout the week, teachers and playground owners are encouraged to spend time on how they can improve the safety of their playground.

With over 40,000 children in the UK under the age of 15 requiring medical attention due to playground related injuries (ROSPA), it's important that play areas understand how they can massively reduce this number and create an environment where children can experience play without the fear of injury.

Who Created Play Safety Week?

The RPII (Register of Play Inspectors International) created the event in 2024, making this year the inaugural Play Safety Week.

Noticing how vital play is for a child's development, the RPII was created to be a global body for examining and certificating inflatable, indoor and outdoor play equipment inspectors. Endorsed by the Health and Safety Executive, the RPII are involved in the development of safety standards for play equipment.

What Is The Aim Of Play Safety Week?

Play Safety Week aims to raise awareness about play safety, dispel myths surrounding play safety and to celebrate the UK's commitment to safe play.

Achieving these three aims ensures that playgrounds and play areas across the world are kept in safe conditions, which will reduce the number of injuries that occur during play.

Raise Awareness About Play Safety

A lot of playground owners across the UK have never considered the safety aspect of their playground and/or how they can make it more safe.

Adults need to be aware that risk is all a part of play and that interfering whilst a child is engaging on equipment can be unsafe. Organisations should be aware of where they purchase their play equipment from, as some companies won't construct their equipment from strong materials or put the equipment through rigorous testing.

Dispel Myths Surrounding Play Safety

Many myths surrounding play safety exist within the industry, which can actually cause more trouble than good.

From teachers needing to be close to children on play equipment to parents wrapping their children in multiple layers of clothes, a lot of these myths aren't true and can put your child in a more dangerous position.

Celebrate Our Commitment To Safe Play

The UK's playgrounds and play centres meet the highest standard of safety and inclusiveness across the globe, which is no easy feat!

By educating everyone about safe play, we can maintain this amazing title and be the benchmark for a lot of other countries to meet. Through this continuous aim of making playgrounds safe as possible, we can ensure that our play areas remain a source of joy and growth.

How Can You Make Your Play Area Safe?

There are multiple different ways you can keep your playground safe, from regular inspections and having safety surfacing installed to keeping the play area clean and having a supervising parent/teacher present during play time.

All of these methods are fantastic ways to ensure that playground safety is being taken seriously and that your playground equipment poses no serious threat to your children.

Keep Your Play Area Clean and Clear of Debris

By giving your play equipment a good clean, you can massively reduce the chance of your equipment suffering a malfunction or a child catching an illness from said equipment. Cleanliness is an important factor for any playground that wants to be safe.

Not only should the play equipment be clean, but the environment should be cleared of any obstructions or clutter. Ensure that your playground users are leaving their bags and other items away from the equipment to reduce the chances of nasty falls or catches.

Introduce Safety Surfacing

Whether it's wetpour surfacing or artificial grass, safety surfacing can massively reduce the chance of a serious injury occurring on your playground. With impact absorbing technology built in, these surfaces can provide a cushioned landing for your children.

At Pentagon Play, we have designed some of the safest play area surfacing options. From our industry leading wetpour to our FIFA approved Playturf, you can be assured that your children are playing on the highest quality surfacing available in the industry.

Have Someone Supervising Play

Having an adult present on the playground provides an opportunity to avoid any serious injuries occurring on the playground. As children are adventurous, they may explore play equipment in unconventional ways and put themselves in dangerous situations. A supervising adult can prevent children from misusing equipment and keep them safe from dangerous play.

It's important to note that supervising is different to interfering. Make sure that you give your children enough room to explore and tackle obstacles in their own time and without any external influence from an adult. If a child needs help getting off play equipment or advancing, they will ask for it.

Encourage Turn Taking

A common issue on a lot of playgrounds is how children can overcrowd a particular piece of play equipment and create a chaotic environment. This can lead to users becoming agitated, stressed, overwhelmed or panicked, resulting in the possibility of an incident increasing.

Try to encourage turn taking within the play area. Local authorities could include thermoplastic play markings to keep children engaged, schools could teach children the importance of turn taking during outdoor lessons, the options are endless.

Have Your Play Area Inspected

Arguably the most important step, it's vital that your playground is inspected. There are three types of playground inspections that can be carried out:

• Routine Checks - once every day/week and addresses immediate concerns
• Operational Inspections - once every four months and focuses on wear and tear
• Annual Inspections - once every year and is carried out by a certified specialist

Annual inspections are the most extensive inspections out of the three, as the specialist will scrutinise every aspect of a playground's condition to ensure that the play area meets the strictest set of industry safety standards.

Pentagon Play offer a fantastic range of inspections and maintenance services, ensuring that your playground stays safe and secure. Not only are we certified to carry out these inspections, but our inspectors have over 25 years worth of experience within the play equipment industry, meaning we know what to look for.

Promote Safety In Your Playground During The First Ever Play Safety Week

Why not celebrate the first ever Play Safety Week by providing your children with a safe play area to engage with!

Join in the fun and help the UK keep it's title of having the world's safest playgrounds and help our children experience play in a safe but fun way!