Note: This story is part two of a four-part series on park playgrounds.
Those of a certain age still talk about the merry-go-round at the playground. The circular piece had bars that extended out from the middle. One or two kids would hold a bar and run as fast as possible to get it spinning and, at some point, jump on.
Remember the monkey bars, a structure about 10-feet tall? Once at the top, you would climb inside the structure to dangle from the center. Who could forget the metal slides? You climbed a ladder of eight or 10 steps, but the thrill of sliding down was gone because the summer sun cooked the slide making it painful to anyone wearing shorts.
play equipment still includes climbing features, but they are made of plastic and
come in a variety of shapes and sizes. (Provided photo)
“The industry has come a long way,” said Rick Bieterman of NuToys, the company that last month supplied the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District with new playground equipment at three parks. He’s been in the business for 43 years and remembers the play equipment of yesteryear.
“Playgrounds today go through a lot of engineering and a lot of research and a lot of certification,” he said. “There’s a group IPEMA (International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association) and that is a group that certifies the playground pieces that get put out in parks.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission also has very strong guidelines as to what can and cannot be put out there. Besides the quality of the materials, the safety of them is a very, very stringent concern, to where we don’t create entrapment spaces.”
Bieterman remembers selling pine and redwood playground equipment when he started in the business. Today the plastics and vinyl finishings on playground equipment come in a rainbow of colors. Landscape Structures of Minnesota, the company that constructs the playground equipment in H-F parks, says on its website it now primarily utilizes steel, aluminum, polyethylene and cable while continuing to develop products using recycled or reclaimed industrial and post-consumer waste.
feature during the 20th century. The spinning
equipment could be dangerous, though, and has
fallen out of favor in recent decades.
(Provided photo)
Playground equipment changes have all been with safety in mind. Bieterman said swings take up the most required space in a playground. The safety range increased from 10- to 12-feet clearance to today’s required clearance of 16 feet in the front and in the back. “We don’t want anyone running in front of a swing if it’s in motion,” he said.
“Other pieces have 6-foot clearances. When a child’s climbing a vertical ladder or coming down a pole, the minimum to a sidewalk or a border extending to the perimeter is 6 feet but a slide is 8-feet clearance. The clearances are very important,” Bieterman explained.
Standards today mandate how far to set bars apart so not to entrap a child, ground covering to avoid painful falls, proper coverings on stairs and climbers to reduce slipping, proper heights for play equipment based on a child’s age.
“ASTM (American Society for Testing & Materials) guidelines are very stringent. It’s brought great awareness to the industry so we’re putting safe playgrounds out there for kids,” Bieterman said.
