Comments on: McKoy Gets 11 Alive Playground Safety Check

By: move on

move on — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:21:31 +0000

Now, that would just be silly! Who would plan a $300K+ expense in these economic times when it could easily be photoshopped or old photos used. And let’s not mention the environmental issues here! The current administration would never allow such a thing!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:13:36 +0000

To quote from a Consumer Product Safety Commission Fact Sheet:
“Each year, about 200,000 children are treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms for playground equipment-related injuries–an estimated 148,000 of these injuries involve public playground equipment and an estimated 51,000 involve home playground equipment. Also, about 15 children die each year as a result of playground equipment-related incidents. Most of the injuries are the result of falls. These are primarily falls to the ground below the equipment, but falls from one piece of equipment to another are also reported. Most of the deaths are due to strangulation or falls.”
If awareness of potential dangers and routine maintenance can cut down on deaths and serious injuries, then it’s worth it.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:58:02 +0000

If you worked in an emergency room at a hospital, you would see the benefits of wearing seat belts and bicycle helmets. A scraped knee or even a broken arm is much less dangerous than a head injury. Castigating a kid for wearing a helmet is downright ignorant of the risks involved. When I grew up, we had no such equipment available, and I remember being knocked out by a bicycle wreck — whether or not I had a concussion, I don’t know, because no one took me to the doctor afterwards. We had no seat belts either and thought nothing of letting kids walk or crawl around in the car while driving, front seat and back seat. Is it a bad thing to want to protect the most vulnerable of our citizens — the children?

By: CSD Mom

CSD Mom — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:21:39 +0000

Come on guys, the only reason we have these safety measures (and take them seriously) is because every kid who gets a scratch, not to mention a gaping head wound, on a playground is a potential lawsuit against the city, or the manufacturer, or somebody. This has more to do with an extremely litigious society than about how safe parents think their children are.

By: David

David — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:46:00 +0000

I don’t have a problem with making the playground area safer, but I saw nothing in that report that will keep me from taking my 2-year-old back to McKoy today.