Maintenance Considerations for Cedar
Although you not have to treat cedar as it will silver down with time, some customers like to keep its original appearance and in this instance, we would recommend Cuprinol UV Guard decking oil in natural.
Maintenance and Inspection Considerations for Play Equipment
Children’s safety in the playground is not solely dependent upon the initial design of the site and the choice of equipment. The continued management and the provision of quality inspection and maintenance programmes are recommended by The Hideout House Company if safe opportunities for children to play creatively are to be preserved.
Inspections should also cover the whole of the site and not just the equipment as pathways, fences, seats etc (if applicable) also need to be checked.
The Hideout House Company recommends the following periodic inspections of its play equipment.
Daily Visual Check – to be carried out by the Site Manager or nominated staff member.
Regular and Quarterly Inspections be administered by the Site Manager or nominated staff member. Annual Inspections be carried out by an outside professional organisation (e.g. RoSPA).
Daily Inspection
Before use each day, the play area should have a visual check to ensure there is no glass, litter and other debris or contaminants present. Also animal faeces should be checked for as these can harbour a wide range of bacteria and viruses etc which can cause serious illness in children or adults. Should any of the foregoing be found, these should be removed and disposed of correctly.
Regular Inspection
This inspection checks out the equipment’s basic condition and identifies obvious hazards which can result from usage, recent vandalism or weather conditions – for example, the hazards can be broken parts or broken bottles. These inspections should be carried out by the Site Manager or a nominated member of staff and should be recorded (we would also recommend that these inspections are undertaken by somebody with basic training in playground inspections). Frequency of these inspections will vary according to usage and local site conditions although weekly should be regarded as a minimum.
Quarterly Operational Inspection
This inspection looks in more detail at the equipment especially with regards to vandalism and certain types of minor wear on the components and hardware. This inspection should be carried out by the Site Manager every 3 months and recorded.
The publication “Routine Inspection of Playgrounds” may be purchased from RoSPA and could assist with this inspection.
Annual Inspection
This should be carried out by a specialist or competent person not connected with the school or Site Manager – for example insurance companies, ourselves as the original manufacturer, commercial independent inspection companies (which the company can recommend) and safety organisations such as RoSPA.
Essentially, this inspection looks at vandalism, minor and major wear and tear (taking into account effects of weather, evidence of rotting and corrosion), long term structural problems, changes in compliance and design and risk assessments etc
This inspection should be carried out at intervals not exceeding 12 months.
If serious defects, which put safety at risk, are discovered during inspection, then these should be corrected without delay. If this is not possible, the equipment should be secured against use.
Recommendations
The Hideout House Company, under its warranty policy, will rectify any defect as a result of faulty workmanship and materials within a year from the date of installation. A note should be kept of the age of the equipment and a special inspection carried out before the expiry of the warranty.
Failure to comply with these recommendations may result in the invalidation of the warranty.
Checklist:
The company recommends the following measures for the routine maintenance of our playground equipment:
1) Tightening of fastenings – loose fixings are a hazardous safety risk, particularly those in trim trail components and those with moving parts.
2) Check that any swing seats are securely fixed and undamaged.
3) Check that all safety barriers are present.
4) Check that all ropes are secure and undamaged.
5) Check that no glass fibre is exposed on GRP slides.
6) Maintenance of any impact absorbing surfaces.
7) Lubrication of any bearings.
8) Cleaning.
9) Restoring loose fills to the correct level and ensuring loose fill is aerated and free of faeces and debris.
10) Maintenance of free space areas.
11) Suspension bridges – chains and ropes should be checked on a weekly basis for wear and damage. They may need re-tensioning occasionally.
12) Ropes and chains – check for any wear and tear or deterioration of ropes and chains
especially at fitting points.
13) Foundations – check all anchoring points for stability and anchor mechanisms for
signs of damage close to the ground.
Corrective maintenance should include measures to correct defects or to re-establish the necessary levels of safety of the play equipment: These measures should include:
1) Replacement of fastenings.
2) Replacement of any worn or defective parts.
3) Replacement of defective structural components
We would also recommend that all components or parts which need to be replaced should be carried out by The Hideout House Company as we cannot take any responsibility for faulty parts which have not been supplied by our company.