Playground Safety Checklist

What is a playground safty checklist?

Children’s playgrounds in Germany must be subject to regular inspection and maintenance. The measures for inspection result from the general road safety obligation. The DIN EN 1176-7 standardisation contains all important points for installation and maintenance. It is obligatory to comply conscientiously with this standard.

A playground safety inspection is carried out with the help of a checklist to contribute to safety on playgrounds. The conscientious documentation and logging of deficiencies and incidents helps to ensure that safety risks are minimised or eliminated.

This article covers:

1. Playground safety inspections at a glance

2. Possible risks determine with playground safety checklist

3. A mobile app for playground safety inspection

Playground safety inspections at a glance

1. Visual routine inspection

During the visual inspection, obvious sources of danger due to vandalism, weather influences or wear and tear are recorded and documented. Among other things, the general cleanliness of the facility is also checked during this inspection. Do any hazards stand out? Are there sharp edges or missing or protruding parts?

2. Operational playground safety inspection

Operational inspections of playground facilities should be carried out every 1-3 months. This is a detailed check of the operational safety and stability of the equipment. Special attention should be paid to the following things:

1. Check the wearing parts
2. Check the screws and connecting parts
3. Check the construction material

Annual playground safety inspection

The annual playground safety inspection is carried out by an external auditor. This auditor checks the general operational condition of the equipment, foundations and surfaces of the playground. The main focus is to review the visual and operational playground inspection of the previous year.

Possible risks determine with playground safety checklist

An effective checklist is an important part of playground safety. Safety issues occur frequently and remain due to lack of documentation not an isolated incident. Here are 6 questions to look out for during playground safety inspections:

1. Does the playground equipment show any defects and damage, such as rust, cracks, sharp edges, warping, protruding nails, etc.?
2. Do wooden elements have uneven and roughened areas that can cause splinters?
3. Are metal slides heated up too much by the sun, so that there is a risk of burns?
4. Are swing frames stable and the swing chains undamaged?
5. Is the surrounding area (sandpit, grass, stones) free of tripping and other hazards, holes in the ground, broken glass, rubbish, large stones or (possibly poisonous) plants?
6. Are there buckets or other vessels with water through which there is a risk of drowning?

The advantages of a playground inspection app

With a digital playground safety checklist, you can carry out regular inspections of the facilities easily via tablet or smartphone – online or offline. Using the desktop software, you create your checklists for the playgrounds and then evaluate the collected data. For example, you can immediately pass on information about weak points and hazards to the responsible colleagues.

By using the mobile Lumiform app, you significantly reduce the risk of missed inspection intervals, documentation errors and reputational damage. Take advantage of the following benefits for your daily work:

• The flexible checklist builder from Lumiform helps you to convert any individual paper list into a digital playground safety checklist without much effort.
• In addition, we offer playground safety checklist templates to help companies get started digitally in no time.
• Using the super intuitive mobile app, you and your teammates conduct check in the field with ease and in no time.
• Playground safety reports are created automatically – this saves the complete postprocessing.