Can you protect your child from suffering a serious playground injury?
Playgrounds are loads of fun, and they keep kids healthy, stimulate physical developmental skills, encourage social skills with other children, and have lots of other benefits. But they can be dangerous, too. If your child is injured, who’s at fault?
You take your child to the playground all the time.
It’s a great way for them to blow off steam. Tires them out so they sleep better. Helps them to socialize and learn to play with other children their own age. Maybe you get to meet some other parents there, too. Fresh air! Exercise! All the reasons why a few hours a week at the playground are hours well spent, right?
Yes, all of this is true. But it’s also true that the playground environment is ripe for injuries to children. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that more than 200,000 children under age 14 are treated in emergency departments for playground injuries each year. Most of these children are between the ages of two and nine. The most common injuries are fractures, contusions, abrasions, cuts and sprains caused by falling from equipment onto hard surfaces. There are also deaths caused by strangulation, commonly because of clothing, strings or ropes.
The CDC says playground injuries are more likely to be severe than car accidents.
Of all injuries that happen in school or childcare settings, nearly a third are on the playground. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported that in one year, there were 19 emergency department visits by infants less than a year for falls from playground equipment; there were 1,903 visits for children between one and five years old.
The single biggest hazard on playgrounds is falling. More than 79% percent of serious playground injuries are due to falls.
Most common playground injuries
- Fractures and broken bones. These typically affect wrists, arms, elbows and forearms because children will reflexively use their arms to break a fall. They’re caused by falls from equipment like swings, slides, or climbing structures.
- Bruises, cuts and abrasions. Hands, knees, and faces are frequently bruised or scraped as children trip, slide or fall onto surfaces or equipment (or even other children). Often, these are caused by contact with hard surfaces or equipment that has sharp or rough edges.
- Head injuries, including concussions. These affect the head, neck and face. A concussion requires medical attention, so if your child suffers a hard bump or head injury, seek medical attention immediately. These typically happen from falls from heights like climbing structures.
- Sprains and strains. Children jump from high equipment, or they might twist while running or playing. These could cause sprains or strains of ankles, wrists and knees.
- Dental injuries. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for a child to fall face-first onto a hard surface or collide with equipment or other children. This can lead to broken or knocked-out teeth and injuries to the mouth or gums.
- Dislocations. Elbows, shoulders or fingers could become dislocated. Sometimes these injuries can be very painful and require immediate medical attention. Typically, this happens from sudden twisting, rough play, or falling.
- Lacerations (deep cuts). If a child comes into contact with sharp or broken objects like nails, bolts, or rough metal edges, they could suffer a dangerous cut.
- Internal injuries. These are less common than the more superficial injuries, but they’re not unheard of. They can happen from falls from heights onto hard surfaces, or from hard impact from swings or slides that result in injuries to the abdomen or chest.
- Eye injuries. A child can suffer scratches to the cornea or irritation from foreign objects because of sand, dirt, or debris thrown or blown into the eyes, or from collisions with equipment.
- “Pinch points” injuries or entanglement. Fingers, hair, or clothes can be pinched in playground equipment like seesaws, swing chains or climbers with moving parts.
Illinois playground accident liability
If your child was injured in an Illinois playground accident, can you receive compensation through a personal injury lawsuit on their behalf?
That depends on whether the accident was caused by negligence. Negligence is an action (or failure to act) that would be reasonably foreseeable to cause injury. There are five elements to negligence:
- Duty. Duty exists for any entity responsible for avoiding harm to someone else. This might be a caregiver, a school or child care provider, the property owner, the manufacturer of playground equipment, or another party.
- Breach. To meet the standard for negligence, you must prove that the defendant breached their duty of care to the victim. This might mean failing to maintain a playground in a safe way that complies with applicable codes and standards, failure to supervise children, or other types of situations.
- Causation. The injury must be the direct result of the breach. If a playground has broken equipment that might cause an injury, but your child was not actually injured while using it, you do not have a cause of action.
- Injury. There must be an actual injury to file an Illinois lawsuit for a playground accident. A child who falls and has a skinned knee or a sprained ankle that’s treated at home is not a compensable injury.
- Damages. The crux of personal injury law is that a plaintiff is entitled to be made financially whole. In other words, you’re entitled to be restored to the financial condition you would be in if the accident hadn’t happened. You can recover damages for an injury that cost you money. So, again, a skinned knee treated with a band-aid is not compensable. A sprain that is healed with an ice pack is also not compensable. A traumatic brain injury that requires a hospital visit, diagnostics, treatment, and ongoing care can be a compensable injury.
Who is liable for a child’s Illinois playground injury?
Several parties could be liable—legally responsible—for an Illinois child’s playground accident injury.
- The supervising adult or entity. If the accident happened while the child was at school, child care, camp, etc., and someone is entrusted to care for them, that party could be liable for negligent supervision. Negligent supervision can include an adult who allows a young child to climb higher on the equipment than that child is physically, developmentally, or otherwise ready for and capable of; it could include permitting rough play among children, like pushing or shoving while playing atop or near equipment; it could include being inattentive and not realizing an accident was about to happen that could have been prevented.
- The property owner. Most playgrounds are at schools, parks, or other municipal facilities. While being a government agency (a public school is a government agency) does not absolve them of responsibility for failure to safely and adequately maintain the premises and keep it free from hazards, there are additional steps a plaintiff must take when they file a lawsuit against the government. If you’re considering a premises liability claim against a playground on public property, you should consult an Illinois personal injury lawyer for guidance on how to move forward.
- A manufacturer. Playground equipment must meet certain safety standards and is designed to be safe and avoid harm to children. If the injury happens because of defective equipment, you might have a lawsuit against the equipment manufacturer, manufacturer of certain parts, or the installer.
- Can another child be liable? There are Illinois parental liability laws that hold a parent or guardian responsible if the child’s actions cause injury or property damage. This depends on the child’s age, developmental capability, and other factors.
Preventing Illinois playground injuries
Whether you’re a parent, school or childcare personnel, or anyone else tasked with maintaining children’s safety, there are things you can look for to ensure their safety on the playground.
- Equipment design. Playgrounds are designed for children by age. There should be separate areas for toddlers (ages two to five) and older children (ages five to 12). Equipment should be slip-resistant and metal slides should not be in direct sun because of the risk of burns.
- Fall zones. The base of any play equipment should be surrounded by shock absorbing material that extends a minimum of six feet in all directions. The distance should be equal to twice the height of the suspending bar in front of and behind swings.
- Spacing. Each play structure should be at least 12 feet from any other structure so children can move freely. This is also designed so that if a child falls, they don’t collide with another structure. Any moving equipment should be farther away from stationary structures so children can move between them without risk of being hit by a child on a swing or coming off a slide.
- Surfaces. The ground in a play area should be soft enough to cushion a fall. There should be a minimum of 12 inches of pea gravel, mulch, sand or wood chips beneath play equipment.
- Openings. Entrapment is a playground hazard. Guardrail openings, spaces between platforms and between ladder rungs, and other gaps should either be less than 3 ½ inches wide or more than nine inches wide. Avoid any spaces where a child could become trapped and strangled because they can fit their body through an opening but not their head.
- Catch points. Be aware of dangerous hardware like a protruding bolt, “S” hooks on swings, or other types of exposed hardware. This causes a strangulation hazard if a child’s clothes or hair become caught. Any ropes should be securely anchored to avoid looping around a child’s body.
If your child was injured in an Illinois playground accident, some nuances might not be present in a typical personal injury lawsuit. For example, if the playground is on public property and certain laws relating specifically to minors. That’s why your best approach is to find a qualified, compassionate and skilled Illinois personal injury lawyer to help review your options and guide you through the legal process.
See our guide Choosing a personal injury attorney.