Friends of the Parks

Injury Free Chicago Releases 2010 Playground Safety Study

During the summer of 2010, a team of trained playground safety inspectors surveyed 477 Chicago Park District-owned playgrounds.  Under the supervision of Injury Free Chicago, researchers evaluated surfacing, age, equipment maintenance, safety issues and the physical environment. The results of the study found that 63% of Chicago’s parks met national safety standards.  However, 37% of the playgrounds did not meet national playground safety standards.  Overall, 299 of the 477 playgrounds were rated as safe for children, while 178 playgrounds were found to have safety issues with the equipment or the soft surface material in the fall 2010.

 The 2010 Playground Safety Study found an improvement in the safety of playgrounds since the 2008 study.  In 2008, 70% of CPD playgrounds did not meet safety standards.  The improvement is due to the commitment the Park District made to repair playgrounds, to hire and train staff to make regular repairs to the equipment, and the Chicago Park District staff paid particular attention to the condition and depth of the fibar.

Friends of the Parks would like to acknowledge the Chicago Park District for making strides with playground maintenance and repair.  The number of playgrounds meeting national safety standards increased from 30% in 2008 to 54% in 2009, and to 63% in 2010.

Playgrounds were surveyed in summer and early fall 2010.  Surveyors visited each playground and graded them in four basic areas:  age-appropriateness of equipment, soft-surfacing near play areas, equipment maintenance and overall physical lay-out.   A score below 70% means the playground did not meet national safety standards.  

 The following is a summary of the 2010 Playground Safety Study by region South, Central and North.  Although every effort was made to survey each playground in the park district system, the surveyors may have inadvertently missed some playgrounds.  To see the score of all 479 playgrounds surveyed, go to www.FOTP.org.

View the completed Playground Safety Study. View our  tips for making your playground safer.