Playground Safety Training

NPPS

• The NPPS is a national organization which partners with other special interest groups, promoting an active lifestyle for children. On a local level they administer training courses through clubs like The Kiwanis, Lions Club, or local PTA. On a state and national level, they push for legislation to promote additional training of playground caretakers.

Online

• The NPPS also offers an online version of safety courses for early childhood and elementary aged students at www.playgroundsafety.org.

S.A.F.E.

• Playground safety is most simply broken down into the four S.A.F.E. principals of Supervision, Age-Appropriate, Fall Surfacing, and Equipment Maintenance. Supervision ensures the safety instructor can see children at all times. Age appropriate equipment must be purchased for the children using it. Proper fall surfacing like mulch or sand is preferable to harder surfaces. Equipment maintenance calls for the inspection of equipment and surfaces for damage or hazardous materials.

Fall Surfaces

• A trained playground safety instructor must be able to identify and mitigate hazardous surfaces, especially in high traffic or high risk play areas. Ground covering like mulch or sand is much safer than concrete or wooden surfaces.

Equipment Selection

• A trained playground safety instructor will be able to identify equipment that is appropriate for the size and strength of the children using it. They are also trained to identify areas that have structural problems that could cause injury, such as hooks, ropes, or jagged surfaces.