Plastic Slides Danger in Hot Weather

[Chickenhauler]

Whether the city can be held liable in this case or not (and trust me, some lawyer already is on this one), they're going to run scared and tear that playground down. Even if this case doesn't do them in, the next may (now they know the slide gets hot, and left it there knowing full well how dangerous it is, yada yada yada).

Here's why....like you said, we should all know what we're dealing with....the city put in playground equipment that can burn someone? Someone got burned? And they still have the equipment there knowing full well that it's dangerous?

Oh, that's a lawsuit in todays litigious society.


As for the abuse/neglect thing, where I learned the English language, abuse is an action, neglect is the lack of action (both resulting in the same results).

[nannyde]

Whether the city can be held liable in this case or not (and trust me, some lawyer already is on this one), they're going to run scared and tear that playground down. Even if this case doesn't do them in, the next may (now they know the slide gets hot, and left it there knowing full well how dangerous it is, yada yada yada).

Here's why....like you said, we should all know what we're dealing with....the city put in playground equipment that can burn someone? Someone got burned? And they still have the equipment there knowing full well that it's dangerous?

Oh, that's a lawsuit in todays litigious society.


As for the abuse/neglect thing, where I learned the English language, abuse is an action, neglect is the lack of action (both resulting in the same results).

Oh I don't know if they will tear the slide down. The vast majority of our parks have this identical equipment. I have a park next to my house and it has the equiment with the same slides with different configuration. It would mean taking down hundreds of play structures across the city. I don't see that happening. They may put up signs in the future. I believe there was a sign up in that playground stating ages for that pieces of equipment but I'm not positive. Next time I'm in that area I will check.

Heck I'm just guessing on all of this really. I am VERY familiar with the day care standards and how seriously something like this would be taken in my County.

The Regs that speak to this incident are:

Play equipment and materials in a safe condition, for both indoor and outdoor activities which are developmentally appropriate for the ages and number of children present.

Give careful supervision at all times.

[Crystal]

FTR, I agree that the provider should have checked the equipment, and that she should have been closer to the child.With my original post, I was considering my own equipment, not public playground equipmet....I do a visual check daily of all of my own equipment, but not a temp check, simply because I know my equipment and none of it sits in direct sunlight.

I NEVER use public playgrounds, mostly becauseI didn't personally place the equipment and ANYTHING could be wrong with it.

I still think that if there is going to be any accountability held by anyone, it should be provider/parks and rec/manufactuer. A simple sign saying that it gets THAT hot would suffice.

[originalkat]

Honestly, I think it's a pretty weasel-ly thing all around for all parties.

The mom wants to blame the city, everyone wants the lady who was watching the kid tarred and feathered, the city is running around with their heads cut off looking for anyone to blame but themselves, etc etc.

How about this one.....bad stuff happens sometimes?

Honestly, how many here knew that a plastic slide could reach 160+ degrees before this? How easily could this have been any one of us?

You want to know what REALLY is going to come out of this? The park being torn down. The entire play structure, slides, walkways, swings, EVERYTHING is going to be torn down.

Why? Because everyone wants someone to pay, and the city is going to say "fine, we're going to have to limit our liability.....tear the park down".


As for charges on the provider, they could never get abuse to stick, they could get negligence, but never abuse.

I agree! Accidents happen. Now we are all even more aware of the damage a heated play surface can cause! Do we really have to make someone PAY for it...
ie:
The city and or manufacurer spending hundreds of thousands of dollars replacing slides??
The child care providers name being dragged through the dirt and being blamed for this??

Come on people. It was an accident. Lets all learn from it and move on. I am glad that news station didnt try to give the home daycare provider (AND ALONG WITH IT A STIGMA FOR ALL HOME PROVIDERS) a bad name. They focused on making parents aware of a potential safety hazard.

Everyone has made errors in judgement...arent you glad a news station wasnt there to document it a plaster it on everyones tv screen? Let's not be so quick to judge others. None of us were there and do not know how it all played out. Obviously the parent trusts her provider. And I am sure the provider has learned from her mistake as well.