Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Playground
  • Surfacing
  • Parks
  • Athletics
  • Aquatics
  • Play
Home
  • Playground
  • Surfacing
  • Parks
  • Athletics
  • Aquatics
  • Play
  • The Evolution of Playground Surfacing
  • Playground Supervision: How Much Is Too Much?
  • Girard Street Park Playground Goes Year Round
  • Designing A Great Skatepark
  • Is The Use of PVC in Playground Equipment Safe?

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Playground
  3. Safety
  4. Safety First

Safety First

Safety
May 01, 2003
Profile picture for user Playground Magazine
By Playground Magazine on
  • facebook-f
  • twitter
  • envelope
  • print
444
Safety First

The keys to a happy, healthy childhood

The headline read: Come one, come all, grab them while they last! It’s the world’s Super Duper, Triple-Quad-ripple, Tons of Fun, Maintenance free playground. 

“Maintenance free?” It was too good to be true—a playground owner’s dream. I bought four of them. I didn’t buy them because they were “Super Duper” or because they were “Triple-Quad-ripple.” I didn’t buy because they were “Honey-Buns” or “Tons of Fun.” Of course, I bought them because they were “Maintenance-Free.”  Yeah, maintenance for free, that’s the life. I felt like I had landed on the mother lode. The list of things I wouldn’t have to concern myself with anymore. I leaned back in my desk chair to daydream about all the things that will no longer be my responsibility.  

No more replacing broken parts. No more checking for the wear and tear created by daily use of the play equipment. No more replacing broken and worn parks. No more worries about the reliability and dependability of the contractor or his installer who built the equipment. No more of those surfacing headaches like topping off loose fill surfacing or buying and replacing worn rubber tiles. No more head injury criteria or impact attenuation thoughts cluttering my brain.

I take a deep breath as I stretch and lean back even further in my chair. Then it hits me. With all the money and time I’ll save, I could buy a time saving, maintenance free playground for all our parks. 

That’s the life. No more checking for vandalism, or removing paint from the bubble panels. No more picking up after teenagers who so conveniently use the playground as a garbage dump. No more washing soda pop out of the tube slide. I won’t have to spray for insects. No more cleaning up after Fido. Yes, life is good! 

Safety First

“Hey, wait a minute,” I think as I rest my chair back down on all fours. Some not-so-great things pop into my head. No more spending time at the park listening to kids shout, scream, and laugh? No more interaction with my neighbors and town folk? No more learning what I can do to make my next playground project even better than this one? No more sense of the value of play? Even worse, what will I do all day?  

Ok, so “maintenance free” does have its downside, but I dismiss these thoughts, lean back on my desk chair again, put my boots up on the desk and continue my self-talk about maintenance free and how good life will be. Just think, no more inspection reports or documentations.  No more worrying about risk management or safety awareness. 

My office door flings open. I fall backward in my chair barely catching my fall. “ Hey Curtis, aren’t you working today?” It’s Gary, my grounds assistant. I come back to earth and try to regain my composure,  “Not today; I’m just waiting for the free maintenance man to show up. Boy, he’s going to make our jobs easier from now on.”

Gary gets a good laugh at my expense, “Did you say ‘free.’ Everybody knows there is no such thing as “maintenance free.” 

Darn, the daydream was good while it lasted. I put on my hat and gloves. Gary throws me the keys and we get in the truck and get back to work.  

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Profile picture for user Playground Magazine
Playground Magazine
Published 19 years ago
Last updated 1 month ago
444
2
min read
A- A+
  • facebook-f
  • twitter
  • envelope
  • print

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

More About Safety

Getting Educated on Safety
Aug 01, 2004
Safety

Getting Educated on Safety

Playground Magazine
Children playing safe on a playground
Jan 10, 2020
Safety

Keep Your Children Safe on the Playground

Lewis Robinson
New Version of ASTM F1487 Contains Changes Inspectors Should Know
Jan 01, 2002
Safety

New Version of ASTM F1487 Contains Changes Inspectors Should Know

Playground Magazine
Dec 01, 2006
Safety

Dealing with the Aftermath

Playground Magazine
At Your Fingertips
Jul 01, 2002
Safety

At Your Fingertips

Playground Magazine
Child hanging from monkey bars.
Nov 25, 2013
Safety

Can We Eliminate Serious Playground Injuries Through Legislation?

Kenneth Kutska
Mar 01, 2006
Safety

Rungs in the Fall Zone

Playground Magazine
Jul 01, 2006
Safety

Possible playground litigation issues

Playground Magazine
The Lay of the Land
Nov 01, 2001
Safety

The Lay of the Land

Playground Magazine
IPSI, LLC Introduces New Playground Safety Is No Accident 6th Edition
Sep 23, 2020
Safety

IPSI, LLC Introduces New Playground Safety Is No Accident 6th Edition

Kenneth Kutska
Jul 01, 2006
Safety

Make jobsite safety priority one from day one

Playground Magazine
There's Playground Danger Underfoot
Mar 01, 2002
Safety

There's Playground Danger Underfoot

Playground Magazine

Safety Professionals

ADA.gov
ADA.gov
Organization
More
National Program for Playground Safety
National Program for Playground Safety
Organization
More
Safety Play, Inc.
Safety Play, Inc.
Services
More
ASTM International
ASTM International
Organization
More
United States Consumer Product Safety Commission
United States Consumer Product Safety Commission
Organization
More
Slyde the Playground Hound
Slyde the Playground Hound
Organization
More
Playground Safety Services, Inc.
Playground Safety Services, Inc.
Services
More
International Playground Safety Institute
International Playground Safety Institute
Organization
More
Home

Follow Us

Play and playground news and information since 2001

  • instagram
  • facebook-f
  • twitter
  • pinterest
  • linkedin

Company

  • Playground Magazine
  • Contributors
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Copyright © 2001 - 2023 Playground Professionals, LLC

Footer menu

  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions