Recommendations
As I entered the playing area, the gate was wide open. This could turn out to be a very serious risk to young children, because they could easily wonder off from their guardian and end up walking or running into the road and face the risk of getting knocked down by a car. This could lead to a very severe accident, injuring the child or the driver within the car. In order to prevent this accident from happening, there should be a stable lock on the door that little children won’t be able to open. There should also be a big sign on the gate saying someone along the lines of ‘please can you shut the gate after you’
The next hazard I came across was that someone had his or her dog running around loose around the playground. Even though this dog might just be going on one of their daily walks, they shouldn’t be allowed to run around inside where the children were playing. The dog was fairly big and could turn aggressive at any minute and bite one of the children or the dog could playfully, jump up on one of the children and knock them over. Therefore the council should put up a sign saying ‘No Dogs Allowed’, this could prevent the dog from attacking anyone. Another potential hazard could be if the dog was to do their business, a child might pick this up and start playing with it, which is dangerous as it could damage their insides.
Next to the opened gate was a waste bin, which was over-flowing with everyday waste and broken bottles and various empty food cartons. I saw this bin as a health hazard because, someone could trip and fall onto the broken bottle, or the children could pick it up and start playing with them and end up hurting themselves by maybe swinging it around. These people are at risk of cutting themselves, either minor or severe cuts. It is essential that the bins are emptied regularly, as often as once a day, probably more on hotter days when more drinks containers and ice creams packing is more likely to be on the floor. Also the park I near a chicken and chip shop which means that it is very likely for the packaging of this fast food on the floor which can attract the attention of vermin and pigeons. It can be difficult to discourage people from eating so there should be ‘’No litter signs around’’ and also ‘’please do not feed the pigeons’’ signs to. This is because the younger children can pick up or maybe eat pieces of the litter that is on the floor, increasing the risk of infection due to germs.
When I got inside the playground, I noticed that there is a danger of children getting hit by moving objects, such as the swings or the roundabout. While they are running around, little children tend to be unaware of their surroundings, so they might run into someone on the swings or into the roundabout and seriously hurt themselves. In order to prevent this, parents or guardians should supervise their children at all times, particularly around moving objects. Also barriers close to swings to stop small children running out in front of the swings
Another hazard i noticed was that there were no cleaning facilities, such as washing facilities and the toilets had been closed due to maintenance work. This is dangerous because children are at risk of infection because they might put their dirty hands in their mouth to eat food or an ice cream with. In order to prevent this the council should have temporary toilets while the other ones are being refurbished, they should also have some sort of cleaning facilities so that children can wash their hands. Or if they are unable to install temporary toilet, they should think of other facilities they can put instead such as a drinking fountain.
Notices up to restrict older children in smaller children’s playground where might break the equipment and information for parents so know that playground for older children and not suitable for younger children who might get hurt or knocked down by the older children running around, or that some of the equipment eg slides are too high for smaller children if they fall from them
The playground for the younger children is also near a football pitch, which means that the children are at risk of getting hit by the balls, which occasionally fly over in the fence into the playground. The council should maybe switch the playgrounds round so the older children are closer to the pitch (as the younger children could get hurt more easily) or they could make the fence for the football pitch higher to prevent the balls from coming over so often.
The final hazard that i realised while I was inside the play area was the fact that there was no shelter within the area. This is dangerous because if children are exposed to sun for extended period of time, this could result in sunstroke or dehydration in hot weather and it makes it uncomfortable for the guardians watching the children who have to sit in the sun There was also no shelter over the metal slide and this dangerous in hot weathers, because metal attracts heat and could get very hot in hot weather which could lead to a child getting burnt by it. The council should build for people to sit in and over the slide to prevent these injuries from happening.
While I was leaving the play area, i noticed that there were a lot of harmful discarded objects by the exit gate. These objects included half full alcohol bottles and needles. It appeared that people come in the night to drink alcohol and take drugs. These are very dangerous because a child might pick it up and start drinking the alcohol or start playing with the needle. These could cause very serious harm to the child. There should be regular inspections of the play area for these particular dangerous objects.
Another hazard I realised when I was leaving the playground was that the fence was damaged in a way that a small child could fit through it and wander off. This is dangerous because, (as mentioned above) the child could wander off into the road and end up getting knocked over. Another hazard, which could occur, is that a stranger could abduct the child. This could be dangerous for the child because you don’t know what the person could do to the child and it could cause stress for the parent/guardian. So the council should also send someone to inspect the play area for damaging equipment.
I also noticed that the fence had a nail sticking out of it, this is dangerous because a child is at risk of running into it (causing a puncture wound), grazing or cutting themselves on it. The nail looked really rusty as well, which means that if someone was to graze, cut or run into it, there is a risk of that person catching tetanus. The council should either take the nail out or bang it down so that it is not sticking out.
