The report, Playgrounds - Risks, Benefits and Choices, was commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive. Its author, Professor David Ball of Middlesex University's Centre for Decision Analysis and Risk Management, found the proportion of all childhood accident fatalities and injuries in UK playgrounds to be very small, with 14 fatalities - nine on school premises and the other five on public playgrounds - between 1986 and 1999. None of the school deaths were due to play equipment or the type of play usually associated with playgrounds, while three of the deaths in public playgrounds were due to falls from swings and the other two involved a splinter from a wooden slide runout which punctured an artery.
The report said that in 1998 there were 41,700 accidents related to play equipment, with public playgrounds accounting for most - 21,200 - cases, followed by parks (10,800) and schools (6,100), and other locations including indoor soft play or adventure play areas accounting for the rest. That same year children made 588 visits to hospital A&E departments as a result of accidents in nursery play areas.
Professor Ball noted that despite the introduction of such safety measures as Impact Absorbing Surfacing (IAS), playground injuries were not decreasing and questioned whether the cost of IAS to help reduce the risk of head injuries was proportional to the reduction in injuries.
He said, 'The overall number of play equipment-related injuries has remained fairly constant, albeit over a period which it is believed that children have come to spend less time in playgrounds. Whether such a trade-off, if real, can be described as a success, depends on the relative importance of head and facial injuries versus upper limb injuries.'
However, Professor Ball noted a reduction in the number of playgrounds in recent years and said this deprived children of the social, physiological and developmental opportunities.
The Play Safety Forum welcomed the research. Tim Gill, spokesperson for the forum and director of the Children's Play Council, said, 'Children want adventurous play opportunities. But we want to protect them from harm. This report provides some of the research evidence we need to get the balance right.'
