Playgrounds Need to Be Inspected to Ensure Safety Notes Connecticut Personal Injury Attorney

New Haven, CT (Law Firm Newswire) April 19, 2012 – As spring gets fully underway, kids will start to play outside more and enjoy playgrounds at school and in the community.

Parents should be reminded that playgrounds can be a fun place but they also can create risks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 200,000 children go to the ER every year for playground injuries. Kids from five to nine years old are the most susceptible. The CDC notes that fractures, dislocations, concussions, and internal injuries are the most common injuries. Falling and strangulation causes the most deaths.

Climbing equipment and swing sets have caused the most harm, the CDC reports. Parents should be on the lookout for damaged or rusty equipment along with how the playground area is maintained.

“When a child gets seriously hurt on the playground due to shoddy equipment or a lack of maintenance, the school or daycare center can be liable for not having a safe environment for the children to play in,” said Connecticut personal injury attorney Michael Stratton, of Stratton Faxon Law Firm. “The surfaces around the playground must also be free of debris and fall surfaces should be appropriate for the playground area.”

The CDC notes that playground injuries can be very costly. Concussions and internal injuries can require a lot of medical attention and even sometimes necessitate assistive technologies for the rest of the child’s lifetime. Schools and daycare centers should be taking the right steps to maintain playgrounds and also provide supervision when it is recess time. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission does have guidelines for schools to follow to ensure that equipment and the playground surfaces are age appropriate and safe. Qualified personnel can then use these guidelines and routine maintenance schedules to inspect the playground area.

To learn more, visit the Connecticut personal injury law firm at http://www.strattonfaxon.com.

Stratton Faxon
59 Elm Street
New Haven, CT 06510
Call: 203.624.9500

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