What is a S.A.F.E. play environment?
In 1996, the National Program for Playground Safety (NPPS) developed a National Action Plan (NAP) that was intended to be a blueprint to help local public entities (schools, childcare centers, and parks) create safe play environments for children (Thompson & Hudson).
Embedded in the NAP was the S.A.F.E. model created to provide individuals with an understanding of the four crucial elements in the play environment that can help prevent injuries. The S.A.F.E. acronym stands for Supervision, Age Appropriate Design, Fall Surfacing, and Equipment and Surfacing Maintenance. While surfacing gets the most attention, NPPS has long held that it is no more or less important than the other three elements in terms of keeping a child safe in the play environment. Why?
Let’s take the case of 4-year-old Molly who is attending a childcare center. The center decides to take Molly and the other preschoolers to the local park on a field trip. In this park is a seven-foot high overhead ladder with three rungs on the ladder entrance. The childcare provider allows Molly to climb up on these rungs to get on this structure (problem No. 1 – supervision). Because Molly has the grip size of a preschooler, not a school-age child, and because she doesn’t developmentally have the arm strength of older children (problem No. 2 – age-appropriate design), she falls from the ladder onto six inches of pea gravel.
However, as is shown in the CPSC Handbook for Public Playground Safety (CPSC, 2008, p.10), the maximum height for pea gravel to cushion a fall is five feet (problem No. 3 – proper fall surfacing). Furthermore, to provide that cushion, the depth of compressed pea gravel should be nine inches (problem No. 4 – proper maintenance). Although the injury report is going to say that Molly broke her arms in a fall, the real cause of the incident involved all four S.A.F.E. elements.
As can be seen by the example above, all four elements are important in providing a S.A.F.E. environment for children. However, the one element that sometimes gets overlooked in community settings is that of supervision. Some people question whether playground supervision is really practical, especially in urban park settings where no paid supervisors are present. Like a lot of things, paid playground supervisors are items of the 20th, not the 21st century. Let’s look a little deeper into the supervision issue.
S = Supervision
Back in 1991, Steve King of Landscape Structures commented that supervision was a contributing factor in about 40 percent of legal cases that involved playground injuries.
In public schools and childcare centers, that percentage is probably closer to 90 percent. Why? Because, unlike community parks, public schools and childcare centers are under stricter legal and licensing mandates to provide quality supervision in a play environment. For instance, the National Association for the Education of Young Children states that the supervision ratio for supervisor/children is between 1:4 and 1:10 for children 6 years and younger. The younger the child, the more supervision is required (NAEYC, 1998). While the importance of supervision may be given in these two areas (schools and childcare centers), this does not mean that parks located in the community should be immune from considering supervision as an important aspect in the development of play structures.
Because supervision takes on a different form—that of the parent, caregiver, or in some cases, older sibling—it is perhaps more imperative that community agencies consider supervision in the planning of the playground environment as well as provide education to community members about the importance of supervision of children on the playground. How can this be done?
Developing The Supervision Environment
There are four main considerations to look at in the design of the playground in the planning stage that facilitate and contribute to a safe supervision environment (Hudson, Thompson, and Olsen, 2008). These are:
- What is the general location of the play structure?
- Are there separate and appropriate age developmental structures in the environment?
- Do the structures provide for good sight lines?
- Is the structure out of a conflicting zone of play?
When planning the placement of the structure, one needs to consider if it is by a nearby road, parking lot, or other hazardous situations. If the answer is yes, then some barrier (i.e. fence, hedge, etc.) should be placed between the playground structure and the area of the hazardous condition. While this may seem like common sense, too many playgrounds across the country are within easy running distance of a parking lot or road without any barrier in place.
Providing two, if not three, distinct areas (ages 6 months-23 months, ages 2-5, and ages 5-12) for age-appropriate structures also facilitates the supervision process. This should allow adults to place children on age-appropriate equipment. Does this always happen? Of course not, but that is part of the education process that we will discuss in a moment.
However, providing one large composite piece of equipment for ages 2-12 doesn’t make any sense in terms of trying to have children play on equipment that fits their physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development. Younger children who get on equipment too large for their development abilities can easily be hurt as was seen in the real example given in the beginning. Likewise, older children on equipment not challenging enough can get hurt by misusing the structure.
Can children be easily viewed when on the structure? Open sight lines refer to the existence of several angles of visual access. This is especially true if one has benches (not recommended) around the play structure. The adult sitting on the bench (not recommended) should be able to see children in crawl tubes, semi-private spaces, and tube slides. The provision of small openings in crawl tubes and slides facilitates the supervision process.
Finally, the play area should be separate from other active play zones. For instance, the NPPS once got a call from an architect who was developing a four-plex softball area. The question was, “Could they put the play structure between fields in a linear line?” Each play area should have its distinct clearance area so that conflict recreation doesn’t result.
Educating For Supervision
As important as setting up the play environment for supervision, is the role of educating the general public about how good supervision practices can prevent unsafe play behaviors and make sure that a trip to the park is not remembered with tears.
There are at least four ways that agencies can help promote adult supervision on community playgrounds. First, the provision of signs not only reminds adults that supervision is recommended but also helps direct them to the appropriate equipment areas for the children. NPPS has done research into signage and the results were mixed (Hudson, Thompson, and Olsen, 2006). While only 30 percent of the people surveyed said they paid any attention to the signs (signs stated that adult supervision was recommended and gave the age level for the equipment), more than 50 percent felt signs were a good idea (Hudson, Thompson, and Olsen, 2006). Recently, with the incidences of burns on playgrounds, an additional caution about playground equipment and surfacing being hot may be a good idea to put on a sign.
Second, information about expected behavior on play structures may be posted in an obvious place. In most parks, one is more likely to have signs that talk about animal care (i.e. keeping dogs on a leash, picking up after dogs, etc.) than any behavior about children on equipment. If playground rules are posted, they should be positive: Be respectful, not negative; Don’t run up the slide.
Third, during a grand opening of the playground, teach both adults and children about how the equipment should be used. This is a perfect time to have a short playground safety briefing and arrange activities so that kids are safely playing on new equipment. In the same light, the physical education teacher at schools should teach children how to use any new equipment.
Fourth, have public service ads and literature available and celebrate safe playground events. A perfect event would be during National Playground Safety Week which occurs every year during the last full week of April. This year the dates are April 20–24.
Remembering The S In S.A.F.E.
Remember, playground equipment will not supervise children. Supervision is more than being there. It is the careful and unobtrusive monitoring of the play environment to promote safe behaviors and help prevent injuries. But for supervision to be practical in the community event, the playground first needs to be developed with supervision in mind. Second, the community agency that is sponsoring the playground site should also educate the potential users and supervisors about safe play behaviors. By remembering and practicing the S in S.A.F.E. we can help reduce injuries and provide positive play experiences for children.