Playground Maintenance

Keeping playground equipment properly maintained is essential to the safety of the children who play there. A quality maintenance program has many benefits.

In this guide we will cover:

  • The Importance of Maintenance
  • What to Look For
  • Record, Repair, Replace

The Importance of Maintenance

🛡️ Keep Children and Families Safe

Properly maintained grounds and playground equipment help minimize the risk of preventable injuries. Playgrounds are fun, so it's important to create a safe environment for play and recreation for people of all ages.

⚖️ Limit Liability

Proper and timely maintenance of a community's playgrounds and parks helps to manage risk and limit your liability if injury should occur. Injuries happen, but did you do everything you could to prevent them?

🎯 Improve the Play Experience

If playground equipment is broken or otherwise unusable, children will miss out on opportunities to play. Children learn through play, so a safe space for kids to learn, socialize, explore, and grow is essential.

What to Look For

Regular inspection of playground equipment is important, but it is equally important to look for hazards on the playground property as a whole. If you detect safety hazards during your inspection, record, repair, and replace the equipment as quickly as possible to reduce the possibility of injury.

🔩 Equipment Inspection

  • Broken or missing equipment
  • Secure anchors, barriers, and panels
  • Loose or missing bolts and/or clamps
  • Heavily worn moving parts and swing parts
  • Cracked and/or broken plastic parts
  • Rusted, worn, or corroded metals

🌿 Grounds Inspection

  • Broken glass, trash, and other debris
  • Problems with surfacing
  • User modification such as rope swings
  • Vandalized, broken, and defaced property
  • Insect damage or infestation
  • Tripping hazards like exposed tree roots

Record, Repair, Replace

📋 Record

It is important to always record routine playground inspections. Accurate and organized record-keeping is the basis of an effective maintenance program. This includes taking note of problems, as well as the corrective actions taken.

Keeping the records organized is vital to keeping kids safe — and keeping your organization safe from injury-related lawsuits.

We recommend using a checklist while performing routine maintenance checks. 

🔧 Repair

While performing a thorough inspection of the playground equipment and grounds, if you come across a problem, assess the damage or issue and consult with a maintenance professional when necessary.

Remember that children are not always deterred by broken equipment and, in some cases, may even be drawn to it. That's why it is important to repair or remove any potentially hazardous equipment or obstructions as quickly as possible.

While some problems are easily repaired, significant issues may require the purchase of replacement equipment. Make sure to check the equipment warranty with the manufacturer and call with any questions you may have!

♻️ Replace

Just because something is broken doesn't mean you must replace it. However, there are times when equipment replacement is necessary:

  • If wear and tear is extensive even to the naked eye, or the functioning is compromised in a way that is unsafe
  • If a piece of equipment has already been repaired but is showing new signs of wear
  • If parts of equipment are worn or missing and are not replaceable, you may have to replace the entire piece of equipment