Monday, May 24, 2010

What's New: Lower Monthly Maintenance fees?

May 24, 2010

PlayGrind is the Newest Edition to Centaur's Fitness Flooring Line: a Safe, Recyclable, Alternative to Playground Sand Pits.

By Carla Lieblein


SANTA BARBARA, CA - MAY 24, 2010. The playground is a fun-filled place. However, with the dramatic increase in playground related injuries and the spread of germs over the past two decades, it is also a place that requires a safe ground that can absorb shock, and not carry or spread germs. Sand pits located in children's playgrounds carry germs and diseases transmitted by animals or people in the parks. According to one source most sand pits have disappeared over fears that they pose a health and safety risk - with councils claiming poorly maintained sandpits they sometimes contain broken glass, needles or are used by cat as a 'litter tray'" (Wallop & Oppenheimer 2010). In truth, all theses factors contribute to a higher cost in sand pit maintenance.

"The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) statistics estimate that nearly 200,000 playground-related injuries occur each year requiring emergency room visits. There is a new trend to avoid sand pits in outdoor play ground areas due to random animals using it" (Lamb 2000). "We investigated measures to prevent Toxocara egg contamination of sandpits. Replacement of contaminated sand was not effective because 1-9 new fecal deposits per sandpit were found daily, with eggs reappearing in the sand 6-9 weeks after the replacement" (Uga & Kataoka 1995).

There is hope other authority figures responsible for playgrounds across the country will start to follow the lead councils, which have invested in good quality playgrounds by replacing sand pits with products like PlayGrind.

Sources:

Harry Wallop and Jeni Oppenheimer , 2010 "Sandpits disappearing from playgrounds as councils blame health and safety"

Lamb, Gary , 2000 "Playground Safety" Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. Interviewed by phone on May 14, 2010

Shoji Uga and Nobumasa Kataoka , 1995 "Measures to Control Toxocara Egg Contamination in Sandpits of Public Parks"Department of Medical Zoology, Kobe University School of Medicine, and University School of Allied Medical Sciences , Kobe, Japan. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 52(1), 1995, pp. 21-24 Copyright © 1995 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene