Welcome to The Playground Post
This is your biweekly dose of playground knowledge from someone who's spent 20 years inspecting them.
In this issue, I’ll talk about the importance of data collection and how it helps to inform future decisions.
I’ll also discuss a playground that came to fruition despite obstacles and intangibles.
All that and more lies ahead in The Playground Post.
Monitoring Minute
Using Data to Make Your Playground Safer
Most reputable playground companies will conduct a post-installation audit and inspection to ensure that your playground meets local and national safety standards. If the install was done right, your playground passes, and it’s good to go.
The good news? You now own your own playground.
The bad news? You now own your own playground.
When the ribbon-cutting ceremony is done and kids begin to trickle into your playground over the following weeks, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, which is continued safety for every child. Just because your playground passed its initial inspection and audit doesn’t mean you can simply ignore it and expect no consequences.
Spaces like this don’t stay picture-perfect without diligence and effort.
Maintaining a safe playground requires, among other things, paying attention to areas in which accidents frequently occur. Often, these aren’t just lone incidents; they’re data points that reveal underlying issues.
For instance, if you notice an uptick in injuries near your swing sets, it could be that the surfacing around it needs to be replenished or that your mats are in need of replacement. Either way, the data is telling you something, and it needs to be recorded and acted upon.
Playgrounds require annual audits and regular inspections by a Certified Playground Safety Inspector to guard against structural wear and tear, surfacing deficiencies, and other significant safety roadblocks. These checkpoints also give playground owners the chance to home in on high-accident frequency areas of the playground and use their data to make layout adjustments as necessary.
So after you’ve opened your new playground, make sure that you have regular inspections scheduled and that you have someone you trust to organize the data that comes from both weekly reports and regular inspections. I prefer a spreadsheet, but pen and paper works fine as well.
Either way, the numbers don’t lie, and, coupled with decisive action, they can help your playground be safer and more fun.
To get you started, I’ve included a free playground safety log that you can start using today to start gathering data and tracking incidents. Click below to download:
One Thing to Check on Your Playground This Week
Air quality in the northern and northeastern US continues to worsen due to wildfires in Canada, and, before taking your kids to the playground, it’s more important than ever to check the Air Quality Index (AQI).
Particularly for children with allergies, poor air quality can turn a routine trip outdoors into an unpleasant experience. What’s more, side effects of unclean air exposure, such as coughing, wheezing, and lethargy, often don’t surface immediately.
Fortunately, the CDC has a handy guide for measuring how each segment of AQI affects people and what one should do if one encounters poor air quality. Check it out here, and be safe out there!
The Case File
MJ Elite - A Gymnastics Facility with Playground Aspirations
MJ Elite Gymnastics is a sports facility nestled in the heart of central Tennessee. Located about 20 miles east of Nashville in the town of Mount Juliet, MJ Elite serves young, aspiring gymnasts in the Nashville metro area.
Its owner, Craig Stott, wanted a playground that aligned with his indoor facility; that is to say, a space with heavy emphasis on balance, core strength, and upper body strength.
After consulting with his wife and co-owner, Craig ordered a standard quick ship structure, which, after a few iterations, quickly turned into a custom structure that boasted the black and yellow colors of their local school, as well as an overhead climber. The latter proved a natural addition to the structure considering the type of kids who’d be playing on any given day.
However, getting the climber installed wasn’t easy. It required clearing out solid rock that lay under the surface, which took weeks of excavation. Hard work and precision were necessary to ensure the structural stability of the play structure.
MJ Elite’s new playground took a lot of effort to realize, but ultimately paid off.
Once finished, the playground became the centerpiece of the MJ Elite facility. Despite the weeks of rock clearing and installation, the black and yellow finish remained intact and visible from far away.
This story goes to show that, sometimes, playground installations don’t always go exactly to plan. However, what matters is pushing through the obstacles and getting the job done, which is exactly what happened at MJ Elite Gymnastics.
To learn more about MJ Elite’s new playground, check out the article and video below, which go into greater detail about this project.
That's it for this issue.
If you’re looking to purchase a playground, ask yourself:
Where can I save money?
Am I able to drive to pick up my equipment?
Can I recruit some handy parents or parishioners to help install the playground?
Are there crowdfunding or grant options I can take advantage of?
These are the sorts of questions that sometimes prove necessary to make playground plans come to life.
If you have any questions on how to get your playground to the finish line, reply to this email and I’ll give you my take.
A playground is a big purchase, and when it comes to completing a project, there’s no such thing as a dumb question.
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Talk soon,
Nic Breedlove
Certified Playground Safety Inspector
20 years in the game. Still learning.