In America and Australia there are government health warnings to parents about the danger of their children getting burned on playground equipment that has been heated up in the summer sun.
The sun can be so hot that even plastic coatings and other materials that replace traditional metal surfaces can be enough to burn a toddler’s skin, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Part of the problem is that young skin burns more easily and the child does not immediately recognise the danger. To avoid the problem slides in America are placed in the shade or facing away from the sun.
This has not been considered a hazard in England but it is now. Last week the burns sustained by a one-year-old boy in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire made the headlines in the local paper. In a temperature of 26C he climbed up a sheet metal ramp in the children’s recreation ground and seriously burned a leg and hand. Large blisters developed. These had to be pierced and his wounds dressed in the accident and emergency department of the local hospital.
There is now a great deal of discussion between the local council, insurers and RoSPA, the accident prevention experts, on how to proceed now that the increasingly hot British sun is seen as a safety hazard on children’s play equipment.
According to the Americans even in temperatures as low 23C (74F) the sun can heat up equipment enough to burn. At slightly higher temperatures metal can reach 50C (140F) – a serious hazard for a child.
