Burnt Children at Playgrounds
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Have you heard about the children being burned by the rubber matted playgrounds? Make sure your children have shoes, are in the shade of the playground and no crawlers allowed on the rubber mats. The kids are suffering 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Shouldn’t these surfaces be replaced??
Here is the scoop from metro:
Burning issue at hot tot lots
City facing injury lawsuits
by patrick arden / metro new york
JUL 21, 2008
A
year ago, Anne Casson was playing with her children in a sandbox in
Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side when her 18-month old son Will
suddenly ran toward the playground.
Will’s
feet suffered second- and third-degree burns. Watchdog group NYC Park
Advocates took the mat’s temperature Friday: It was 166.9 degrees. (Photo: )
“He wanted me to catch him, and I was right behind with his shoes in my hand,” Casson said.
But the game ended suddenly, when Will stepped on the
playground’s black rubber safety mat and immediately started screaming.
“It wasn’t more than 10 seconds,” Casson said. “I picked him up and his
skin was just hanging off his feet.”
He spent four days in the burn unit of Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was treated for second- and third-degree burns.
“At first, the hospital thought he got electrocuted — that’s how
bad his feet were,” said Casson. “When we said, no, he was on the
playground, they immediately went, ‘Oh, the mats.’
It wasn’t the first time a child had been severely burned in a
city playground. Employees at two of the city’s three burn units said
their centers treated 10 similar cases last year.
“We encourage all park patrons to use common sense,” said a
Parks Department spokesperson yesterday. She claimed the city posts
signs warning of the hot surfaces — but no such sign was at the park
where Will was injured.
The city currently faces three lawsuits related to playground burns, asking for damages ranging from $750,000 to $1 million.
Rather than seek a legal remedy, Casson tried to meet with the
city, unsuccessfully. She then went to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission, which asked for the name of the mat’s manufacturer. The
Parks Department said it was “unable to locate” the name of the
manufacturer, even when City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin joined Casson
in requesting it. “I was naïve,” Casson said. “I thought they really
would care that children were getting burned.”
Casson was joined at the playground yesterday by Reyhan Mehran,
whose 14-month-old son Kian was burned in 2004 at Van Vorhees
Playground in Brooklyn. A picture of Kian’s burned feet looked
identical to a photo of Will Casson’s injury.
“The city has to know that every single summer there are children being severely burned,” said Mehran.
Karen, thank you so much for posting this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a warning sign at our various playgrounds, and I had no idea that the mats could get THAT frighteningly hot! I could just imagine letting my son take his shoes off for the sprinklers on a really hot day and then his running onto the mats toward some playground equipment…. And the Parks Department’s defense that people should use “common sense”?!?! I thought the point of those mats was to be a safer surface for kids to tumble onto than the rough asphalt. Sorry for the rant — I’m just feeling disgusted at the city, terrible for those affected families, but grateful for your bringing this to our attention. Thank you.
Terrifying article, but very good to know. The photo is horrifying, but I think necessary. It shocks you into reading and taking the issue very seriously.