Hawaii Public Schools Playground Safety Program

Hawaii Public Schools Safety Program

This issue in the below article applies to Hawaii as well. To my knowledge, the DOE has no system-wide playground safety or playground supervision plan in place. Individual schools are left to put together a plan on their own. We can't expect every school to have a playground expert. It's my opinion that the DOE should provide a uniform and manditory framework for the schools based on local and national safety data and then allow the schools to submit for modification to suit their individual needs.

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State should set standards for school playground safety

The issue: Playground safety
Our opinion: The state should set sensible, mandatory guidelines for schools to follow.

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 12:23 AM CDT
At many elementary schools, playgrounds are getting a much-needed makeover. For safety's sake, familiar equipment such as teeter-totters, merry-go-rounds, monkey bars and large slides are disappearing.

The Portage Township school district, for instance, is planning significant playground improvements next year at seven of the district's eight elementary schools.Many other districts have already redesigned the playgrounds to make them safer, replacing everything from the equipment to the pea gravel underneath. The ground is now covered with wood chips, which are softer to cushion falls and reduce injuries.

Liability concerns are driving the changes.

The aim is to reduce the number of injuries. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says more than 200,000 children are treated each year at emergency rooms for injuries associated with playground equipment. Most of the injuries involve falls.

The federal agency offers a free Handbook for Public Playground Safety, readily available on the Internet, with tips on playground design.

Most schools use the agency's voluntary guidelines and the directives of insurance companies.

The Indiana Department of Education doesn't have any requirements about playground design. It should.

The state also should set mandatory standards for playground supervision to make sure the right number of teachers, aides or adult volunteers is on the playground to respond to the inevitable injuries or disturbances.

It is important for children to be encouraged to be physically active, but they must do so in a safe environment.

Your opinion, please

Should the state set playground design and supervision standards for schools?