Playground Negligence

Brien Roche

Playground negligence can lead to serious injury. Many Virginia playgrounds lack proper protective surfaces. Many have equipment with head entrapment hazards. Others have pieces with protruding parts. These cause clothing to get caught. All of these are hazards to a child.

The CPSC has a handbook that is an excellent guide to the standard of care for construction and maintenance of playgrounds. In addition the CPSC has a report dealing with the same subject. It sets similar standards. Most localities and school districts know these standards. Most comply with them. However non-compliance is most often found on older and privately maintained playgrounds. The age or ownership does not protect the owner from liability.

In any playground negligence case, you will need a playground safety expert.

Establishing Liability in Playground Negligence Cases

The liability of the property owner or overseer of the playground is based on several theories:

Negligent supervision where small children are the users. This duty to supervise applies to the owner where the owner is also the one who brought the children to the playground. For instance the school or the school district.
Product liability coming in the form of products that allow clothing to get caught. Another example is inadequate handrails or siding. In addition slides that are likely to catch a child’s rubber soled shoes are a problem. Climbing walls that are not properly constructed are a problem. Owners must accept that small children will be using this equipment.
Finally surface materials should be unitary (such as rubber mats). Or they should be made of loose fill. This loose fill may be sand or shredded wood products.