Guest blog by CastCoverZ!
It’s Back-to-School time! Did preventing injuries make it onto your checklist? Although children and parents alike are full of excitement and nerves as it’s time to head into a new classroom, it is important to know that 40% of all injuries occur at the beginning and the end of every school year, (according to the national organization SafeKidsUSA).
Nearly 70% of accidents occur on public playgrounds, including school playgrounds. More than one-third of all playground injuries are severe, with children experiencing fractures, internal injuries, concussions, and dislocations. Of all playground equipment-related injuries, 70% involve falls to the surface and 10% onto the equipment. As a general rule of thumb, if a child falls a greater distance than he or she is tall, the likelihood of severe injury increases significantly.
“Playground injuries are the leading cause of injury among children ages 5 to 14 in the school environment, with falls being the highest offender,” says Annette Giacomazzi, founder and owner of CastCoverZ! “My 10 year old daughter was standing on top of a fairly new play structure and fell seven feet, hitting a piece of equipment on the way down and snapping her humerus, the large bone in her upper arm. Anecdotally and from a mother’s point of view, children are distracted from thinking about safety because of the excitement of the start of the school year or the end of school. Being safe is the farthest thing from their minds.”
The good news is most playground injuries are preventable. SafeKidsUSA recommends the following tips to prevent avoidable injuries on the school playground:
- Look for age-appropriate equipment and hazards (such as rusted or broken equipment and dangerous surfaces)
- Avoid playing on non-impact absorbing surfaces like concrete or gravel
- Remove hood and neck drawstrings from all children’s outerwear to avoid strangulation hazards
- Remove bike helmets before using any playground equipment
- Children must be supervised when using playground equipment
- Teach children proper playground behavior: no pushing, shoving, or crowding
Now is the time to add to your back-to-school checklist and have a discussion with your children and your school’s playground supervisors about safety on the playground.
