Note: This story is part three of a four-part series on park playgrounds.

Visit any of the 20 playgrounds in the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District and you’ll see kids having fun on the swings. They get a thrill from the slides and are excited by the movement of swaying bridges.

Enjoyment is the essence of the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District. That enjoyment is coupled with safety. At the playgrounds, every piece of equipment is inspected by Gabe Gacsko, a park district employee and certified playground safety inspector. 

Gacsko joined the parks team in 2019. The following year he was asked to become the inspector. Taking on the inspector role required him to study up on safety protocols. The two manuals he uses are American Society for Testing and Materials standards and the Consumer Product Safety Commission guidelines.

He attended a three-day seminar – the first two days were classes on safety and what to look for in playground equipment inspections, and the third day was the testing period. 

“There’s a lot of obscure numbers and measurements and things I have to remember,” he said.

The certification by the National Recreation and Parks Association is extended every three years after testing. 

Gacsko’s inspections cover a list of 33 recommended items by the International Playground Safety Institute LLC. His checklist calls for examining seats for cracks, decay or rust; bolt and hardware protrusions; welds with cracks or rust; support posts that are loose; handholds that come loose or have protruding bolts; suspension bridges that have gaps; chains and ropes that are loose or showing wear; depth of mulch surfaces for holes or depressions.

There’s a separate section for the general condition of the park itself: Is there a drainage issue? Has the landscaping been damaged? Does the drinking fountain work? Tables and benches in working order?

Every spring, Gacsko conducts his inspections. Depending on the size of the park, it can take him an hour to three hours for an inspection. The park district’s busier playgrounds at Irwin, Millennium, Leavitt, Patriots, Apollo and Goldberg Parks will get additional inspections during the summer months. Gacsko makes a point of checking every bolt, testing every connection.

Over the past six years, he’s had to replace a few slides and swings, some rubber treads on stairs, but the playgrounds are in good shape.  

The inspections are a part of his work routine, but Gacsko said he sees it as a necessary job that he’s glad to do.

“I have two kids of my own and I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them or any other child,” he said.