"Cities and agencies that run playgrounds are coming around to the standards," Emile Therien, the CSC president, told eCMAJ. "It's also an issue of due diligence, because if there is an incident a city could get its butt sued off."

Therien said the CSA first produced standards for equipment in 1998 in response to the more than 28 500 children in Canada are treated by hospitals for playground injuries. There have also been 18 playground deaths been reported in Canada since 1982. Seventeen of these deaths were due to strangulation when drawstrings, skipping ropes, scarves, or loose clothing became entangled in playground equipment or fences, or when a child wearing a bike helmet got his/her head trapped in an opening in playground equipment. The other death was the result of a head fracture.

"The standards are really common sense types of things," adds Therien. "However, if we can reduce the number of injuries by even 10% by building safer playgrounds we'll have made a significant difference." Therien and the CSC are not only urging officials to be aware of the need for safe equipment, but he warns that no safety standard can ever replace proper supervision.

"Parental supervision is obviously still the best way to ensure child safety," he said.

Potential playground trouble spots

• Gaps in play space equipment should be less than 90 mm or greater than 225 mm to reduce incidents of head entrapment.
• Protective barriers and guardrails of at least 725 mm for children 18 months to 5 years, and 950 mm for children aged 5 to 12 help keep children from accidentally falling off platforms and elevated play structures.
• The distance between the top of a guard rail or play surface and the surface beneath is called the fall height. As fall height increases, so does the amount of protective surfacing required beneath it.
• Protective surfaces such as sand, wood chips and fine or medium gravel should be used as a protective surface around any piece of equipment from which a child may fall.
• All features on play equipment that could entangle drawstrings or other clothing should be eliminated.
• The playground owner/operator should have a comprehensive maintenance and inspection program for all equipment to ensure hazards do not develop over time.