Playground safety and inspection of play equipment

The playground is one of the best things about an institutional day: challenges for the body, courage to try something new and hours of free play. But the more challenging a play equipment is, the more important it is that it is built, set up and maintained safely. That is why there are European standards that public playgrounds in Denmark must comply with.

DS/EN 1176 is the playground standard itself. It is divided into several sections with requirements for, among other things, swings, slides, monkey bars, carousels and seesaws, and also describes how play equipment must be installed, maintained, inspected and operated. DS/EN 1177 deals with the shock-absorbing surface – that is, what must soften a fall when a child falls from a piece of equipment. The person who owns a publicly accessible playground (typically the institution or municipality) has a duty to ensure that the equipment is safe and meets the standards.

• 01Routine inspection – daily or weekly visual check, often performed by the teaching staff themselves.
• 02Operational inspection – a more thorough check every 1–3 months of the equipment's function and stability.
• 03Annual major inspection — a thorough review, which is recommended to be performed by a certified playground inspector or other qualified person.

• 01Loose screws, bolts or other loose parts on the tools.
• 02Sharp edges splinters or cracks in wood metal or plastic.
• 03Rust or rot, especially at fasteners and foundations.
• 04The condition of the safety surfacing – are there foreign objects, broken glass or holes where the surface has worn too thin.
• 05Clamping risks between moving parts, chains and fixed structures.
• 06Fences and gates — are they intact and do they close correctly so children cannot unintentionally get out.

If you find something that seems dangerous – a loose railing, a sharp splinter or a tool that wobbles more than usual – you must react immediately. Take the tool out of service, clearly barricade it away from children and report the error to your manager or the person responsible for operations. Feel free to write a brief note about what you saw and when so follow-up can be documented.

“A good playground should challenge the body and courage – but never challenge safety.”