Inspecting Your Playground Inspections

by Charles Hueter

School is back and that means the kids are back on campus. Fresh from summer break, they may profess to have no interest or energy in their studies, but they certainly seem to have plenty of both whenever recess is mentioned. It is important to make sure your recreational facilities are safe and inspected regularly.

Section 756.061 of the Texas Health and Safety Code sets the ground rules for playground equipment. From September 1, 1997 onward, it is prohibited to use public funds to purchase:

playground equipment that does not substantially comply with each applicable provision of the Handbook for Public Playground Safety published in 1994 by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) (Publication No. 325)

It is prohibited to use public funds to buy playground surfacing that does not comply with CPSC standards; nor is it allowed to use public funds to pay for the installation of equipment or surfacing if that installation does "not substantially comply" with the CPSC handbook mentioned above. Please keep this in mind if you are in the market for new equipment and surfacing! The only exception to these restrictions is that public funds are allowed to be spent on the maintenance of equipment and surfacing if they were purchased before September 1, 1997, regardless of their compliance with the CPSC handbook.

Notwithstanding the above, look into any equipment or surfacing purchased and installed prior to 1981. That was when the CPSC handbook was first published and it has been updated since then. Older equipment is more prone to hazardous situations and may contain materials now known to be harmful to children.

Loss Prevention Services recommends three levels of playground inspections. 

1. Daily inspections should be conducted when play supervisors go out with the students. This level is primarily for detecting dangerous day-to-day wear that might occur.
2. Quarterly inspections should be performed by a competent person, perhaps someone from your maintenance department, who should be on the lookout for deeper structural problems and the kind of wear that accumulates over time.
3. Annual inspections should be a detailed examination of each piece of playground equipment, and ideally performed by someone who is a Certified Playground Safety Inspector.

We recommend the competent personnel be involved in the selection of any equipment. Care should be taken to ensure playground installations are performed by either the vendor or by someone the vendor recommends. This means those helpful fundraisers held to bring in money for equipment should budget for the cost of professional installation and not merely assume your maintenance department will do it for free. A letter from the equipment's vendor should be sought that states the equipment or installation meets or exceeds CPSC standards. We also strongly recommend all inspections and repairs be recorded and filed for the life of the equipment and retained five years after it is replaced.

TASB is not aware of any state requirement to have specifically certified personnel conduct the inspections. However, it is not a bad idea to have someone on staff with this certification. For more information on CPSI training, you can visit the National Recreation and Park Association's Web Site. The next Texas training course listed for this year will happen in November, and will be held in Round Rock near Austin. Your Loss Prevention Consultant is also available to discuss general playground concerns and for training maintenance staff and play supervisors.

Keep in mind that county and city regulations may be stricter than those at the state level. Please check to ensure you are in compliance locally. All inspection programs should contain guidelines that establish checklists, inspection frequency, preventative maintenance, and record keeping.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your Loss Prevention Consultant or Charles Hueter at 800.482.7276, extension 6305.

Email: