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Legislation proposed to make playgrounds SAFE

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE: June 13, 2001
For more information, contact Andrew Souvall at (202) 225-4671.

Pallone Introduces Legislation Calling on States to Improve Children's Playgrounds by Following National Safety Standards
Legislation would provide $1 million grants to states, like New Jersey, that pass laws following these safety standards

Washington, D.C. --- Citing a recent study that concluded states are not doing enough to build and sustain safe playgrounds for children, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would provide $1 million grants to states that pass laws, or already have laws, following the safety guidelines outlined by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) national handbook.

Pallone said that the study, conducted by the National Program for Playground Safety, evaluated 3,052 school, childcare and park playgrounds and gave each of the 50 states grades for their playgrounds. The New Jersey Congressman was disappointed to hear New Jersey's playgrounds, along with 11 other states, were handed a "C-minus" grade by the child safety organization. Pallone is, however, encouraged by a new state law that should dramatically improve the state's standing in the future.

Pallone's legislation, the Safe Playgrounds Act of 2001, encourages states to pass laws that set guidelines following the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's 42-page "Handbook for Public Playground Safety." For more than 20 years, CPSC has written this national code to help state and local governments build the safest possible playgrounds. Pallone said that New Jersey joined five other states recently as the only states with laws containing these guidelines. New Jersey passed a law two years ago that begins to take effect in 2004.

Under Pallone's legislation, New Jersey would receive a $1 million federal grant to help the state comply with the new state legislation. Pallone said these funds could be used to either build new playgrounds or bring older ones up to code.

"As the school year ends and summer begins, children all around the United States will be spending more time playing with friends at nearby playgrounds," Pallone said. "While most kids enjoy horsing around at the playground, it can be a dangerous place if the equipment is either broken or not up to code. Playground accidents will always be a reality, but by making these grounds as safe as possible, we can cut down on those accidents that are not the fault of the child but the playground itself."

Pallone also pointed to reports by CPSC that find 205,000 children are sent to the emergency room every year as a result of playground-related injuries, and that between the years of 1990 and 2000, 147 children died from playground equipment-related injuries.

"If golf courses were maintained in the same manner as playgrounds, there would be a great hue and cry," said bill supporter Donna Thompson, Ph.D., Director for the National Program for Playground Safety. "Children deserve playgrounds that are consistently safe. If children are the most precious attribute that our country has, then the adults have a responsibility to provide safe playgrounds so that children can do what children do best, and that is play."

Some of the suggestions included in the CPSC handbook are:

• Ensuring that surfaces around playground equipment have at least 12 inches of wood chips, mulch, sand or pea gravel, or are mats made of safety-tested rubber or rubber like materials;
  
• Ensuring that all protective surfacing extends at least six feet in all directions from play equipment. For swings, be sure surfacing extends, in back and front, twice the height of the suspending bar;
  
• Ensuring that spaces that could trap children, such as openings in guardrails or between ladder rungs, measure less than 3.5 inches or more than 9 inches;
  
• Ensuring that there are small drainage holes on a slide to make it less slippery;
  
• Ensuring that playgrounds are checked regularly.

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