Improved safety standards are needed to better protect younger children at playgrounds

Xiaogai Li,Svein Kleiven

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-33393-z

Abstract

Playground-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in children remain a considerable problem world-wide and current safety standards are being questioned due to historical reasons where the injury thresholds had been perpetuated from automobile industry. Here we investigated head injury mechanisms due to falls on playgrounds using a previously developed and validated age-scalable and positionable whole body child model impacted at front, back and side of the head simulating head-first falls from 1.59 meters (m). The results show that a playground material passing the current testing standards (HIC < 1000 and resultant linear acceleration <200 g) resulted in maximum strain in the brain higher than known injury thresholds, thus not offering sufficient protection especially for younger children. The analysis highlights the age dependence of head injuries in children due to playground falls and the youngest have a higher risk of brain injury and skull fracture. Further, the results provide the first biomechanical evidence guiding age-dependent injury thresholds for playground testing standards. The results also have direct implications for novel designs of playground materials for a better protection of children from TBIs. Only making the playground material thicker and more compliant is not sufficient. This study represents the first initiative of using full body human body models of children as a new tool to improve playground testing standards and to better protect the children at playgrounds.

Highlights

Playgrounds have social and physical benefits for children, but these settings pose a threat of injuries, especially traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) lead to substantial financial burden and long lasting consequences for the victims
The above mentioned safety standards are intended to reduce the injury risks for the head and the protection is evaluated by measuring the accelerations of a hemispherical metal missile (e.g. ASTM F1292 uses a metal hemispherical mass of 4.6 kg simulating the head of a child)
The analysis shows a playground material passing the current playground safety standard with a Head Injury Criteria (HIC) of 1000 and resultant linear acceleration

Summary

Introduction

Playgrounds have social and physical benefits for children, but these settings pose a threat of injuries, especially traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) lead to substantial financial burden and long lasting consequences for the victims. While in Sweden, an estimated 16,000 children every year receive an emergency reception for playground-related injury, most injured age group is between 4–6 years old and TBIs accounted for almost 20%2. These numbers suggest continuous effort and strategies are needed to reduce playground injuries. Current standard requires a Head Injury Criteria (HIC) score lower than 1000 and a peak resultant linear acceleration not exceeding 200 g (gravities) when the missile is dropped from a critical height Worth noting that these tolerance values had been perpetuated from research results performed in the field of automobile industry[7]. The effectiveness of playground safety standards is being questioned and research efforts are urged to be brought into action[4,7,18,19,20]

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Conclusion