Roundabout and swings 'should be banned’

Press, 15 June 1978, Page 3

Roundabout and swings 'should be banned’

NZPA London Three of the most popular items of equipment in children’s playgrounds should be banned, according to a campaign being aimed at members of Parliament and parents in Britain this week. They are the rocking horse, the “ocean wave” — aroundabout which revolves around a pillar, and is shaped like a witches hat — and the plank swing, all in common use in New Zealand playgrounds. These pieces of playground equipment, in particular, have caused serious injury to children, according to “Fair Play for Children,” a group representing organisations such as the Consumer Association and the National Playing Fields Association.

The main objection to both the rocking horse and the plank swing is the problem of speed and weight when the child gets off the equipment while it is still moving. “The full travelling weight crashes on his or her leg or knee, fracturing and displacing the kneecap and fracturing and breaking bones in leg or foot or tossing the child head first on to the ground,’’ says the group. Roundabouts have already been banned by the Greater London Council and the British Standards Institution, but the equipment is still widely used.

An exhibition which will open to members of Parliament at the House of Commons this week will also pinpoint the dangers of concrete surfacing in playgrounds — “the most popular and the most lethal of all to the falling child” — and swings with badly placed access barriers. The group says that concrete, asphalt and bitumen

surfaces have “intolerable impact level,” and calls for Government-backed research into safe surfacing. The group estimates that 150,000 to 250,000 children are hurt or killed in playground accidents in Britain every year. “There is no playground inspectorate, no sanction against the local authority which permits jagged pieces of metal or unguarded moving parts of equipment to maim or scar a child for life,” it says. The alarm is “old hat” as far as New Zealand is concerned, says a Christchurch City Council officer who deals with children’s playgrounds. Mr W. W. Drain, deputy superintendent of parks and reserves for the City Council, said the council was very conscious of safety. New playground equipment was checked by council engineers.

“But you can’t protect children from everything,” said Mr Drain. “Sooner or later they have to stand up for themselves.” An officer of the Consumers Institute in Christchurch, Mr J. S. Ainsworth, said the institute would be happy to listen to complaints about specific equipment and if there was a design fault, to suggest a remedy. ’