Why is Inspection and Maintenance Important?
Management and Staffing Priorities
Well-maintained playground equipment can help children to develop cognitively, physically, communicatively, socially, and emotionally in a safer environment. Along with helping to promote children’s development, a quality inspection and maintenance program has many positive outcomes.
When designing a playground maintenance program, managers should consider, among other factors, these concepts:
Protect your investment Play equipment, protective surfacing, planning, and site development of a playground are significant investments. It simply makes good economic sense to maintain the equipment to extend its life and protect your school or agency’s investment. Manage risk Proper, routine, and timely maintenance is a way of managing risks in the community’s play areas, helping to protect them from costly accidents, and demonstrating the community’s standard of care. Improve children’s play experiences When playground equipment is broken or otherwise unusable, children miss opportunities for play. That moment of connection with others and fun-filled learning might be lost. The better maintained the equipment, the better the chance that a child’s life is improved. Your work could make the difference! Promote community values Maintained and groomed play environments are a source of pride for the community. Taking good care of the playground equipment and maintaining a beautiful environment is an expression of your community’s values. Control expenses Timely, preventive routine maintenance procedures help control expenses by reducing upkeep and replacement costs, enabling more accurate budgeting.
Inspections should be routine, timely, and followed up with action. Design the program to be consistent with the manufacturer’s instructions when available and take into account environmental conditions . Have a system in place that ensures an appropriate response to hazards. • A hazard is anything that may cause harm or result in serious injury. Serious hazards should be immediately repaired, removed, or taken out of service. • The play environment is constantly changing; your system should be capable of responding in an ongoing manner. A successful program requires comprehensive commitment. • Everyone associated with the playground, from the manufacturer to the citizen, has a role in providing access to safer and age appropriate play.
Continually educate staff in these and other areas. • How to effectively identify problems and repair play equipment.
Learning Outcomes: • Define the importance of maintenance as a key to maximizing playground value and managing risk. • Generate high and low frequency inspection protocols and procedures for a sustainable maintenance program. • Identify potentially hazardous conditions in the play environment and define proper maintenance practices for playground equipment and surfacing. • Summarize a variety of tools and generate a maintenance program unique to your school or agency. By identifying and eliminating hazardous conditions, you can play an important role in preserving the play environment, promoting the value of play, and protecting children.
• How to provide ongoing maintenance.
• How to keep records and documentation of work.
When necessary, bring in outside vendors to perform inspections and/or do technical repairs. • Contact your playground supplier for recommendations. Practice complete documentation. • Complete records of maintenance and repairs are essential for a sound maintenance program and risk control. Providing documented evidence that maintenance is being performed verifies a standard of care as set forth by the operator and creates a historical record that could be useful. • Warranties are honored when there is proof of maintenance.
Did You Know? It has been estimated that at least 33% of playground accidents could be avoided with a planned maintenance program. (National Recreation and Park Association’s CPSI Course).
Preserving the Play Environment • Promoting the Value of Play • Protecting Children
Preserving the Play Environment • Promoting the Value of Play • Protecting Children
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