Parents and supervisors are warned to take care of hot playground equipment, and caution is called to mind to test the metal before allowing children to play on the playground. This summer several children experienced severe burns from overheated playground equipment.
See the safety alert by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission attached here. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5036.pdf
I recently came across “The Sun Safety Activity Guide’, booklet produced by the National Safety Council. This publication is a health and science educational guide designed specifically for elementary school students and their families. The guide is a strategic tool for schools to help educate students in a fun and interactive way.
The guide is built upon traditional public health practices, and supports existing elementary school curricula.
With an estimated one in five Americans developing skin cancer, the onus is on us as adults to help this generation of children learn sun safety as a lifestyle for tomorrow. To see the Sun Safety Activity Guide click here http://www.nsc.org/public/ehc/sunsafe/sun_1-53.pdf.
Playground burn is a new incident in todays playgrounds, with excessive heat there are more hidden dangers that parents were not conscious of before. One tragic incident occured on Memorial day this year in New York City at Carl Shultz Park on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where a young boy suffered tragic playground burn from dangerously hot playground mats. Rubber mats are usually used to protect children when they fall, but who would have thought that while protecting children in one way could become a hazard in other ways. These rubber mats become very hot when the blistering sun causes the mats’ temperatures to rise to high levels.
Continue reading ‘Shade structures can help to prevent play equipment burn’
Climate change affects another social behavior, this time its school schedules. August saw a trend of many school districts closing early or changing school schedules to curtail the heat. Some schools even canceled recesses to avoid children having to play outdoors due to soaring temperatures. As the heat goes up we are seeing more and more schools opt to use our shade structures to cover their playgrounds to enable their children to have more outdoor play. Further, shade structures may have water misters affixed to them which gives the children more relief and more fun in the shade.
To ensure that schools are aware of whta the heat and humidity is outdoors, the National Weather Services issues excessive heat warnings and schools are advised to check out your local temperatures before allowing children to be exposed. Go to our website www.shade4schools.com to learn how you can protect your children, while affording them that critical exercise time outdoors.
