Getting our children playing, safely, and learning outdoors, safely, is central to what gets us out of bed in the morning, here at Playforce HQ. We don’t need to tell you about the benefits outdoor activity can bring - whether that’s achieving learning outcomes, developing social skills, improving physical fitness and literacy or just having fun. But balancing this with ensuring playgrounds are properly designed, inspected, assessed, repaired and maintained, as well as ensuring that equipment comes with appropriate warranty, can too often get overlooked.
A few months ago Playforce colleague and inspection specialist Patrick Middlehurst took part in some filming for the BBC One series Defenders UK. They told the horrific and tragic story of a little girl - Alexia Walenkaki - who died the day before her sixth birthday on a rope swing. The local council became the focus of the investigation when it emerged that there had been no safety inspection at the playground for nearly two years.
In the programme Patrick explained our approach - at Playforce - to inspecting a playground for safety and stressed the importance of this happening at least annually. Patrick walked a lap of the playground checking surfacing, first, and having a look at the equipment from the ground up to the top, checking everything from underneath as well as testing all of the timber, fixings, surfacing and elements of the equipment, from all angles.
The program highlights the importance of playground safety, and that a playground inspection would have saved her life. At Playforce we always recommend that an independent RPII-certified inspection is carried out on an annual basis and have created our Playforce Care Inspection Packages to give you peace of mind that you are adhering to the best and most up to date health and safety advice in maintaining your play space and caring for the children using it. Our RPII qualified inspectors not only provide maintenance reports for the equipment and surfacing, but will also help advise you ways to remedy any problems that they find.
You can watch the full program on iPlayer – Defenders UK – Series 4: Episode 7
And don’t forget… You can get the ball rolling with some routine inspections yourself. Here are five ways to get things started… and here are our three top tips for making sure your playground space is in tip top condition as the winter months approach...
Please contact the Playforce team on 01604 261690 to request a quote for your playground inspection today.