Safety standards for playground or outdoor play equipments are getting increased attention from different stakeholders like parents, school, public authority, community, manufacturers and government. In many countries governments have prescribed norms and standards for playground equipments which are mandatory for manufacturers. No doubt that playground or play equipments provide fun, fresh air, and exercise but at the same time it can be equally dangerous as well due to sub-standard and improper surfacing, wrong materials, sharp edges, corners, excessive fall heights. According to a report thousands of children are hospitalized due to playground related injuries like fracture, sprain, cuts and aberrations. In a report it has been suggested that many playground related injuries can be avoided simply by using children friendly play equipments. Children friendly play equipments are basically those play equipments which ensures smooth surface, smooth and rounded edges, small fall heights and which reduces likelihood of strangulations. Considering these basic principles of playground safety government prescribes standards and provides certifications. These standards can be summarized as follows. Surface safety Play equipments must have smooth surface which are likely to come in contact with children’s body. It should not have any roughness to cause harm to sensitive skin your children. Non-pointed structure Play equipment manufacturer should ensure that the entire structure of play equipment is not pointed as the pointed play equipment may lead to cause eye, ear or nose injury. Material standard Play equipment manufacturer should ensure that the materials used are not hazardous. Many materials do react upon surface contact. Therefore, play equipment should not contain any chemical which is highly reactive upon surface contact. Fall height Play equipment manufacturer should also ensure that the fall height is not excessive. This basically prevents severe injury resulting from falling, jumping etc. children are very agile and we cannot anticipate what they are going to do in the next moment so it is always advisable to play safe and keep extra care. Protective barriers Play equipments must be fitted with protective barriers so that the likelihood of falling and running down is reduced to the great extent. Quality control measures Besides above mandatory requirement, play equipment manufacturer should also ensure a proper quality control in the unit where the manufacturing activity is going on. Quality control measures may be implemented at various levels like the safety testing, design testing, quality testing, aesthetics testing, raw material testing etc. If there is proper testing at all these levels then definitely the play equipment will be better and safe. There are very few play equipment manufacturers like www.koochieplay.com/Safety.html who are following all these guidelines and testing standards. No doubt that after adhering to all these safety standards the cost of play equipments will escalate but one cannot compromise life of his child for the sake of few bucks. For more information on Safety standards for play ground equipments you can visit http://www.koochieplay.com/Safety.html
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