NPSI Certification

What Good Has It Done?

By Curtis L Stoddard, CPS

Recently I was visiting with a long time customer of about twenty some-odd years and we were reflecting about years we have worked together to continually keep their playground fresh, updated and of course, safe. Since 1986, this play area has been renewed three times. I had to smile as we reminisced about our first encounter; I had come to the Salt Lake Community College Childcare facility on installation day to build the playground they had purchased from a reputable vendor. The play area where were to erect the structure was enclosed on three sides by a six foot high cinder block fence and a sidewalk was at the perimeter of the fourth side. While I do not recall the exact measurement – I do remember that there was only about two feet of clearance on each side of the playground if constructed according to the site plan. The Childcare Owner had never heard of use zone or safety clearance. She actually thought she had two feet to spare!

On build day – with my crew standing by - we spent a tremendous amount of time – and in this case – some of our company funds educating the owner of the playground that six feet of safety clearance was a necessity. How far we have come since the eighties and early nineties; words like use zone or safety clearance are no longer foreign to the ear, rather these issues and many more are common knowledge to nearly all playground owners today.

Thanks to an industry mechanism dedicated to disseminating playground safety awareness information - I’m talking about the National Playground Safety Institute - the education of the general public about playground safety related issues is broadcast and circulated to the people that need it; city parks and recreation departments, school principals, maintenance staff and purchasing agents, private playground operators, and consults, and our good customer, a NPSI graduate, at the Salt Lake Community College Childcare facility who recently specified a playground detailing all the desired elements; quiet play, active play, etc., including dimensions for each.

Many of The Playground Magazine’s readers are graduates of the National Playground Safety Institutes Certified Playground Safety Inspectors Program. In the past seventeen years, thousands of participants have earned - through duration of a three day intensive training - creative ways to apply playground safety to their unique situation; whether it be one playground at a childcare facility or many, many parks and playgrounds as the director of parks and recreation in a city.

One would expect that designers and planners of playgrounds such as architects should and would know about safety standards from ASTM and CPSC. But today, everyone with an interest has the opportunity to be educated about and with these important playground safety awareness tools. Heaven knows, it makes my job as a contractor easier. I can spend my time and skills building a playground instead of educating a customer about playground safety. Thanks NPSI.I