Height and surfacing as risk factors for injury in falls from playground equipment: A case-control study

117Citations
Citations of this article
71Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Objectives - Despite the widespread promotion of safety standards no epidemiological studies have adequately evaluated their effectiveness in preventing injury in falls from playground equipment. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the height and surfacing requirements of the New Zealand standard for playgrounds and playground equipment. Setting - Early childhood education centres and schools in two major cities in the South Island of New Zealand. Methods - Data were collected on 300 children aged 14 years or less who had fallen from playground equipment. Of these, 110 (cases) had sustained injury and received medical attention, while 190 (controls) had not sustained injury requiring medical attention. Results - Logistic regression models fitted to the data indicated that the risk of injury being sustained in a fall was increased if the equipment failed to comply with the maximum fall height (odds ratio (OR) = 3.0; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7 to 13.1), surfacing (OR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.0 to 5.0), or safe fall height (OR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.0) requirements. Falls from heights in excess of 1.5 metres increased the risk of injury 4.1 times that of falls from 1.5 metres or less and it was estimated that a 45% reduction in children attending emergency departments could be achieved if the maximum fall height was lowered to 1.5 metres. Conclusions - Although the height and surfacing requirements of the New Zealand standard are effective in preventing injury in falls from playground equipment, consideration should be given to lowering the maximum permissible fall height to 1.5 metres.

Author supplied keywords

References Powered by Scopus

Get full text
103Citations
48Readers
Get full text
56Citations
28Readers

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Chalmers, D. J., Marshall, S. W., Langley, J. D., Evans, M. J., Brunton, C. R., Kelly, A. M., & Pickering, A. F. (1996). Height and surfacing as risk factors for injury in falls from playground equipment: A case-control study. Injury Prevention, 2(2), 98–104. https://doi.org/10.1136/ip.2.2.98

Readers over time

‘11‘12‘13‘14‘15‘16‘17‘18‘19‘20‘21‘22‘23‘24‘25036912

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 24

69%

Researcher 7

20%

Professor / Associate Prof. 2

6%

Lecturer / Post doc 2

6%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Medicine and Dentistry 19

54%

Engineering 7

20%

Social Sciences 6

17%

Environmental Science 3

9%

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free
0