Playground Safety in Australia : News
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| Armadale Playground |
Fall from a horizontal track ride kills boy - Perth, Western Australia
The recent death of a 10 year old boy who fell from a horizontal track ride in Perth, Western Australia highlights the need for regular inspections and maintenance of both the playground equipment and playground impact attenuating surfacing. This playground was clearly poorly maintained and did not have adequate impact attenuating surfacing within the fall zone. It is unclear whether the child impacted on the hard ground beneath the equipment on the leading edge of the deck. The deck is within the fall zone and as such should comply with the impact attenuating requirements within EN1177 (AS/NZS4422) at the free height of fall i.e. the hand grip which is the intended body support.
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| Armadale Playground Track Ride |
In light of this accident The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and The Australian Playground Safety Institute recommend the installation of impact absorbing deck pads on the leading edge of all track ride decks in a similar manner to those that are required on the leading edges of swing seats.
Dr David Eager
Director of the Australian Playground Safety Institute
Contact Us
If you would like further information on playground safety short courses conducted in Australia, please contact:
A/Professor David Eager
Director, Australian Playground Safety Institute
Faculty of Engineering
University of Technology Sydney
PO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007, Australia
Tel: +61 2 9514 2687
Fax: +61 2 9514 2665
Email: David.Eager@uts.edu.au
Web: www.eng.uts.edu.au/~deager
Click here for some recent publications by A/Professor Eager on children’s safety, children’s playgrounds and impact attenuation.
Short courses in playground safety offered by UTS:Engineering.
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