injury and frequency of use of playground equipment in public schools and parks in brisbane, australia

Abstract purpose: the purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of use of amusement equipment in public schools and parks in Brisbane, Australia, and to estimate the annual damage rate, overall and specific types of equipment per use.
Methods: in 1996 and 1997, injury data were obtained for all children injured by playground equipment and seeking medical care in the emergency department of two children\'s hospitals in Brisbane city.
In a random sample of 16 parks and 16 schools in Brisbane, children were observed playing on five different rides.
Statistics were made on injuries to children in 16 parks and schools, and injuries and usage rates were calculated.
Results: the ranking of equipment usage in 16 schools was climbing equipment (3762 uses)
Horizontal ladder (2309 uses), and slides (856 uses).
2 for each ladder.
6 times more than each climbing equipment.
7 for each ladder.
In the sample of the public park, the number of climbing equipment per piece is 8 times.
Use slide 4.
Climbing equipment in the park is more than 6 times, 1.
Public schools have doubled.
The annual injury rate of 16 schools and 16 parks is 0.
59/100 000 and 0.
The use of the equipment was 26/100.
Conclusion: This study suggests that the number of annual injuries per standardized use can be used to determine the relative risk of a particular playground equipment.
The low total injury rate of the equipment in this study/100 000 use suggests that, in addition to reducing the challenge, the benefits of further reducing the damage in the community may be insignificant, exceeding the chance of economic cost play.
It is reported that there are three measures to expose the playground to risk and to play on the surface of the playground.
Child injuries at the Atlanta child care center are reported to be injuries every 100 hours.
Another exposure method is the number and time of children playing on different game surfaces.
This measure translates into an annual grass injury rate of 12/10 in children.
The third way to determine \"contact\" is to count the number of children playing in each park visited by park inspectors.
1,10, 11 this measure, while convenient, assumes that children in the park use all the game equipment equally, and checks the children who play on different surfaces, not the equipment to play.
The aim of this study was to estimate the annual usage rate of the five playground equipment most likely to cause harm to children.
The use of ratios as an indicator of children\'s exposure to playground equipment injury risk was not previously reported.
The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Royal Children\'s Hospital in Brisbane.
One requirement of this study is that when observations are made, two observers visit each location.
Five types of equipment were observed for equipment classification: climbing equipment, horizontal ladders, rail rides, slides and swings.
We recognize that there may be ambiguity in describing playground climbing equipment, so our definition is inclusive, not exclusive.
In this study, we include bridges of all heights and widths, cargo nets, whether they are chains or ropes, flexible or rigid, fire poles, and ropes or
The climbing equipment also includes traditional tower, jungle gym, ice house frame or more modern design, with tunnels, spiral ladders and other components connected together through platforms of different heights.
Data collection was observed at 16 randomly selected public park playgrounds and 16 public school playgrounds in Brisbane city.
According to data from the Brisbane city park authority, of the 725 parks sampled at random, 26% were \"high use\" and 36% were \"medium use \", and 38% \"low use\" parks.
The samples included six high-use parks, five medium-use parks and five low-use parks.
Select the public school closest to the selected Park as a sample of the school.
Brisbane has 153 public schools with rides.
Of the 725 parks and samples, the distribution of amusement equipment varies.
There are only two devices in two parks, and two parks have multiples of five devices.
The average number of equipment in 16 parks is 7 pieces.
8, median 6. 0.
A list of all the equipment in Brisbane\'s 725 parks was obtained from the park authority.
Samples drawn for the following parks
Rock climbing equipment and swing.
The total number or distribution details of school game equipment are not available.
At least two observers use hand-held counters to count children in 16 parks and 16 schools using equipment.
The 30-minute observation and training confirmed the method and reliability of the observer.
Five devices observed were the most frequently injured in children.
If the children climb up the equipment, they will be included in the tally.
Even if a child climbed the slide instead of the ladder, climbed the ladder of the slide, and climbed the slide without using the slide, they were counted.
If a child touches the device without leaving the ground, they are not included in the count.
Counting can represent the number of times a child using the device uses the device, or the number of times each child using the device uses the device.
The reason for this approach is that every time the device is used, there is a risk that the child will be harmed.
In school observations, observations were made in the opportunity to play on all game devices during the day.
These are breaks in the morning and lunch breaks.
No time was observed before and after school.
Formal use of equipment is not allowed before and after the school, as these times are not officially supervised.
The opening day begins at 9: 00.
At zero o\'clock A. M. , it ends at 3. 00 pm.
The length of time available for play each day, and the time for observation, ranging from 20 minutes to 70 minutes, averaged 40 minutes.
Some schools do not allow access to equipment in a short period of time, while others limit access to certain grades by using the daily roster.
The official game break has resulted in a total monitoring of equipment usage for one day.
A small number of swings and track rides were observed in the sample at school.
The school playground is being renovated and the old swing is being demolished.
The school is introducing track rides with some novelty.
Only one track ride and three swings in the school sample.
The daily equipment usage in 16 schools was calculated.
A full day of school activities is considered a day for children to supervise the use of equipment.
According to the meteorological bureau, the annual use of equipment is estimated to have used 200 school days, of which an average of 152 are sunny days.
Since the total inventory of equipment in 153 public schools in Brisbane is not available, we estimate it by extrapolation from the equipment in each school.
Personal device damageto-
Usage rate is not calculated.
The public park observation made four separate observations of each of the 16 parks.
The observation period is 1 hour, including 3 working days and a weekend.
Weekday observations include one school holiday and two school day observations.
Observations were made in spring, winter and autumn.
Comments were made during October/November 1996, April, July and August 1997.
A list of the city\'s playground equipment was obtained from the Brisbane City Council\'s equipment records to estimate the use of equipment within the city.
Average daily usage per unit is estimated.
It is based on four-hour observations of each of the five devices in 16 parks.
Conservatively, there are eight hours a day to use the game equipment.
The observations included all the time between 8: 30 a. m. and 5: 30 p. m.
The sun in Brisbane falls before five o\'clock P. M.
Winter and before seven o\'clock P. M. summer.
There is no formal regulation of public parks.
The injury data comes from the children\'s medical data of the Royal Children\'s Hospital and the Alma Mater Children\'s Hospital in Brisbane, Australia.
Data from 1996 to 97 years were obtained.
Including all the injured children and children who went to a hospital for treatment after the playground equipment was injured, and noticed that any of the injured children in 16 parks or 16 schools during the 1996-97 period.
Injury Data was obtained from medical records, questionnaires, and interviews with parents or caregivers who care for their children.
An independent observer rarely sees the waterfalls of the playground.
The case selection for two public children\'s hospitals has been completed.
The study did not include children visiting private hospitals.
Informal but informed estimates suggest that the number of private facilities could be as high as 10% in the public emergency sector.
The average number of injured children and those who go to the hospital for treatment after the injury, fluctuations including horizontal ladders, climbing equipment, slides, parks and schools are calculated using the formula \"number of injuries × number of devices used each year divided by 100.
Results during the two-year data collection process, 117 children were injured on public school equipment and sought medical care at a children\'s hospital.
Of the 16 schools, 13 were injured in school equipment.
In a sample of 16 schools, 12 children were expected to be injured. 2 (
If 117 people are injured in 153 schools)
In two years
Table 1 shows the five major types of equipment injured by children in the Brisbane population, the number of annual injuries in the population, and the distribution of equipment in 16 school samples.
Produce 52 horizontal ladders. Injured 1% (5.
School 5/year)
In the sample, the equipment includes 15.
9% of the equipment in the sample.
View this table: View children injured on five playground equipment in public schools and parks in Brisbane and children attending a children\'s hospital, as well as the distribution of equipment played in samples of 16 parks and 16 schools stable 2, showing the daily use of equipment in public school samples and the average use of each equipment.
The horizontal ladder is the most frequently used equipment in public schools (
Track rides are not included).
Continuous use of single-track riding in school samples (
Observe 333 times in 50 minutes, with an average of 1 time every 9 seconds)
During the observation period.
Occasionally, the children are seen riding on the track with two riders at a time.
View this table: View inline View pop-up table 2 average usage of each device observed in 16 randomly selected schools in Brisbane city, daily observed usage, assumption of equipment distribution in 16 schools 1520.
According to the meteorological bureau data, the rainfall in 76/40 weeks × 5 school days is less than 1mm
At the beginning of the school, the annual injury rate of 5 types of equipment in 16 schools observed was 0.
59/100 for equipment.
ParksTable 1 also showed the distribution of injuries to injured children in the Brisbane population and 16 Park samples.
The table also shows the number of devices included in the random sample.
In the community park, the most damage is caused by the horizontal ladder;
However, they are not widely distributed in the sample.
The average annual number of injured children in 16 parks was 3. 5 children.
Table 3 shows the number of times a child playing in a public park used the device during a four-hour observation.
The average usage of each device is also shown.
In the sample, the usage of each horizontal ladder exceeds any other equipment.
Each slide is used more than four times as many as the climbing equipment, but the number of slides and climbing equipment is almost double that of the horizontal ladder.
We assume that there are 276 sunny days to play.
Daily rainfall analysis of the meteorological bureau, 76% days of rainfall less than 365 of the 1mm.
The observed annual damage rate of 5 types of equipment in 16 parks was 0. 26/100 use.
View this table: View inline View pop-up table 3 Distribution of game devices in public park samples, number of observed uses of devices, average usage of each type of device per day. The school uses more horizontal ladders than any other single piece equipment (
Not including single, how many tracks are used).
Because the distribution of equipment in the school population is unknown, it is impossible to compare the distribution of equipment in the school sample.
We did not estimate the damage/usage of a single device because we did not know the distribution of a single device in the population.
The use of single-track riding observed at school is larger than any piece of equipment.
It has constant use, constant queuing, and pressure on participants to keep moving forward.
During the study, rail transit was introduced to the school for the first time.
The novelty of the equipment may lead to high usage.
By 7 track rides.
8% of the injury from 0.
9% of the equipment in the city park.
The number or ratio of injuries to the horizontal ladder is the highest and the usage is the largest.
We have watched the game played on the level ladder and talked to the kids.
In this game, the children take turns jumping off the mounting ladder or platform, catching the alternating rod on the horizontal ladder, increasing the number of rods they miss each turn.
The winner grabbed the farthest bar.
Children will inevitably miss the bar.
At least one observation study of children, parents or playground caretakers takes into account game behavior.
Twelve specific studies relating to hazardous behaviour or incorrect use of the equipment and its relationship to injury have not yet been carried out.
The ParksHorizontal ladder is used more than any other single device.
However, it is also one of the most unlikely types of equipment to be installed in the park, so in the Park sample, slides and swings are used more frequently.
The difference between the park and the school is the play in the park, where the play takes place during a fixed, compressed break.
School-age children spend time on park equipment after school, weekends and holidays.
At school, we watched all the games of the day, and in the park, we sampled them throughout the day.
The difference in methods may result in sampling errors.
School Supervision includes schedules for children of different grades to use equipment at different times.
In this study, children in the age group at the peak of injury (5–9 year olds)
The schedule was arranged to use the equipment for 70% of the time observed.
In addition to the daily concentration at school to a very short game time, there are more children at any time than using these devices in the park.
Queues are formed, and even though schools limit the number of children on the device, children queuing up encourage rapid use on other devices.
The difference in play style may be related to the different injury rates observed between schools and parks.
In the few parks and schools with all kinds of equipment, so the children can choose, the level ladder is very popular.
Rail transit is also popular, although the installation frequency is too small to draw any conclusions about the population.
With further installation, the damage caused by rail rides may increase.
There is no equipment inventory in the school playground that limits our ability to confirm the distribution of equipment in the school sample.
Our estimate of the expected injury in the school sample, compared to the actual injury in the school playground sample, indicates confidence in the results of the school level.
However, due to the unknown distribution of equipment in all schools, we did not consider the estimate of injuriesto-
It is wise to use rates for different types of equipment.
Number of parks in the sample (2. 2%)
But more importantly, the equipment in these parks does not represent the equipment in all parks.
Therefore, we did not calculate the damage/usage rate for a single device.
The selection of parks and schools as research units resulted in distortions in the distribution of individual types of equipment in the sample.
It is not known whether the difference between the sample and the park inventory is related to the allocation of a smaller number of equipment (such as rail rides) or to the equipment in stock at the time of replacement and upgrade of the equipment.
The study included observations on school days and weekends, holidays, time of day, staggered seasons, and pictures of annual use were produced.
It is best to consider the gender and age of the child.
We believe that video recording can enhance data collection and allow for reliability and validity checks of observations;
However, permission to play children\'s videos cannot be obtained.
13 in the preliminary observation, we realized that children\'s play on the playground is usually very fast, in the case of horizontal ladders and track rides, the time spent on any particular device may stay longer from a few seconds or on some climbing device.
We also recognize that climbing equipment may take the form of bridges, towers, or various other different components, and the time spent on them needs to be handled separately as separate components.
One limitation of this study is that the age of children using the device cannot be determined in an observed-only environment.
The difference in the installation of climbing equipment between the park and the school highlights an important consideration in the definition of climbing equipment and its components.
We counted the various components of the Park visited and the climbing equipment of the school.
The count of all park climbing equipment is done by contacting the manufacturer to find the number and type of components in the specified equipment in the list provided by park authority.
This process may result in a component count error.
The data of the Climbing department usually does not distinguish between different components or types of Climbing equipment.
In the data indicating which devices are involved in the damage, clearer definition of climbing equipment is essential and equally important in determining the use of amusement equipment in the community.
Conclusion play is a key factor in the growth and development of children, and increasing the chance of play must be balanced with safety considerations.
This study shows that damage can be used to determine the relative risk of a particular playground equipment, depending on the number of times it is used.
The horizontal ladders do most of the damage, but they are also the most used equipment in parks and schools.
Key level ladders do more damage than other rides, but they are also the most used in public schools and parks.
The total rate of injury per use of the device is very low.
Interventions to reduce injuries should take into account the need for children to exercise and play and recognize the popularity and challenges of different types of equipment.
Overall injury rate (0.
59 schools and 0. 26 parks)
Equipment usage per 100 people is low.
Interventions to further reduce injuries in this community should take into account the popularity of children with specific equipment, the development needs of children for games, and the effect of changing playground equipment at the expense of reducing challenging game consoles.
This study is a project of Australian Injury Prevention and Control Co. , Ltd. funded by the Council of the Southeast Queensland region (SEQROC)
Queensland Education Center and NHMRC.
We appreciate the cooperation between the Queensland Injury Monitoring Unit and the emergency department of the Royal Children\'s Hospital and the Alma Mater Children\'s Hospital.
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