Playground Maintenance: An Owners Duty
New playground owner’s responsibilities are two-fold, keep the children visiting their playground safe and maintaining the equipment, which in turn keeps children safe. Keeping children safe is just one of many reasons to have a written maintenance program. A good maintenance program will make your playground last longer. Just like the regular changing of the oil in your automobile extends its life, checking your playground equipment, surfacing, and surroundings for safety hazards, and checking wear and tear on parts can extend the life of your equipment.
Next, should your organizations be named in a potential litigation situation because someone did get injured on your equipment, having routine maintenance records is the best risk management tool you can have as it shows you have exercised due diligence.
Based on the presupposition that, as a playground owner you are morally obligated to care enough to do regular inspections on your equipment, you may consider the following:
- Maintenance Kit - Did the equipment installers provide you with a maintenance kit? Or, if you inherited the equipment and maintenance kit is no where to be found, reach out to the local representative of the brand you purchased and for under $200 you can obtain a new maintenance kit. Order Playcraft Maintenance Kits Here.
On staff CPSI - Are you or someone on your staff Certified Safety Playground Safety Inspectors? If not, do you have access to a CPSI with a partnering entity? If not, consider hiring a subcontractor or your playground installation professional. We have 4 CPSI’s on staff and are happy to help you with any questions you have about maintenance. Call 1-800-388-2196 today.
It’s helpful to know that hiring outside the organization pushes the liability to that subcontractor. Remember to obtain a copy of the subcontractors’ liability insurance. Be sure to request that your organization be listed as certificate holder. Also, you will want to weigh in on the cost of hiring out your inspections vs keeping it in-house. The cost of one professionally conducted inspection, could pay for educating one of your staff at the Certified Playground Safety Inspectors course, Course Link Here. This puts the power in your hands. The certification needs to be updated every three years, so there’s pros and cons to both avenues. What’s key here is that you want to be sure the people inspecting your equipment are properly trained to do so.
- Getting replacement parts – Keep in mind, if you do decide to keep playground safety inspections in-house, you will need to periodically order replacement parts. Recently, one of our long-time customers who maintains over 15 playgrounds for an Idaho school district, called to order parts for his older Playcraft Systems. His dedication to keeping the equipment in tip-top shape really shows. His Playcraft equipment is over 30 years old and still performing.
Recently we received this positive feedback from this customer.
Thank you for everything!
I really appreciate how responsive you and your company is. I wish other playground sales reps would take note (there's one that's driving me nuts)!
And if that wasn't enough (which it is) the gift cards are very nice, way above and beyond!
So thank you, thank you, thank you! I appreciate the great service!
Have a great weekend, stay cool
-- Happy LuckyDog Costumer
- Do you have Inspection Checklists – Either electronically or paper copy will work. Period inspections may be daily, weekly, and quarterly depending on the use and abuse you equipment is getting. Pick a time frame and get started. Don’t delay. Whether you own one or dozens of play structures, foolish is the playground owner who doesn’t take this directive seriously.
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