New York City Child Playground Accident Lawyer
When you take your child out to a playground, you have their best interest at heart. You go to enjoy a sunny day, an outing with family and friends, or for some great exercise and leisure time with them outside of school. But some playground designers and equipment manufacturers don’t share your sentiments. Often construction playgrounds are built with shoddy construction, poor design and faulty equipment. There are guidelines for construction workers and designers to follow but on older playgrounds built before guidelines were in place, you may find that these play areas are unintentionally hot beds of danger.
If your child has been hurt at a playground due to the owner’s negligence, we can help! You need a New York City Child Playground Accident Lawyer. Contact our experienced New York team of child playground accident lawyers today for your free initial phone consultation at 212-725-8500.
An article in the New York Times cites four main factors behind New York City playground accidents:
1-How well playground equipment is installed and maintained (ex. Can your child’s head get stuck in a narrow opening?)
2-How children use the playground equipment
3-The design and arrangement of the playground equipment
4- The types of surfaces under playground equipment
Common hazards contributing to children’s playground accidents are: swings spaced too close together, climbing equipment taller than the recommended six feet, steep slides higher than six feet, dangerous equipment such as chains, S hooks or loose ropes left scattered around and equipment with jagged edges that can catch children’s clothing.
Once the playground is already built, you have no control over it. However, you do have control over the different playgrounds your child visits, and all it takes is a few minutes to scan the area with your eyes. Follow a few common-sense guidelines before you let your child play there. The best playgrounds have separate play areas for younger and older children. This allows them to have enough supervision and be around children of a similar size. There should also be enough space for children to move freely around the equipment and each other so they can avoid collisions. Don’t allow your kids to play on playgrounds with damaged equipment or if you see that the playground is too near to a roadway.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has a detailed set of recommendations to follow that include:
- A playground’s ground cover should have at least 12 inches of pea gravel, wood chips, mulch, sand, or approved rubber matting. The cover should extend at least 6 feet beyond the equipment area and be free of debris.
- All equipment should be firmly anchored with devices set below the surface to prevent tripping over them.
- Swing seats should be made of lightweight, impact-absorbing materials like rubber or plastic and sized so that only one child at a time can sit on them.
- Bucket-type seats should be used for toddlers. The hangers at the top of the swing should be spaced slightly wider than the seat to reduce side-to-side motion.
- Slides should not have more than a 30-degree incline and the platform should be as wide as the slide and at least 22 inches deep and connect directly with the slide.
- Spaces between steps and rungs should be large enough to prevent a child’s head from getting trapped: greater than 9 inches for preschoolers and greater than 12 inches for older children. Handrails should have diameters of one inch to one and two-thirds inches.
- Playground equipment that is 30 inches in height (the size of a toddler) should be spaced out at least nine feet apart to avoid collision accidents.
You can take preventative measures to try and keep your children safe. But what if it’s too late and your child has already been involved in an accident? Then you need a New York City Playground Accident Lawyer. New York State Law requires that all those who operate a park or playground must provide reasonably safe conditions for the protection of the public. This means that the City is responsible for any negligence. If the City allows the playground to have unsafe conditions or if it fails to properly repair or maintain its equipment and grounds and a child is injured as a result, the City may be held responsible. Let our team of New York City child playground Lawyers counsel you on your legal rights.
If your child has been hurt at a playground due to the owner’s negligence, we can help! You need a New York City Child Playground Accident Lawyer.
Michael Gunzburg is a Child Playground Accident Lawyer serving the New York Metropolitan area, including New York City, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland and Orange County.
