Bad news today about the new Brooklyn Bridge Park’s play equipment. Minutes ago, the NY Post reported that the metallic domes installed there are burning children. Some park-goers took the temperature of the orbs and discovered the temperature of them was an astounding 127.9 degrees. For the full story, go here.
This isn’t the first time that NY playgrounds have burned children. In the hot summer days, many children have been burned by the rubber matted playgrounds. Watchdog group NYC Park Advocates took a mat’s temperature last year and it was 166.9 degrees. Last year, Metro reported that in 2007, 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. “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.
Make sure your children have shoes, are in the shade of the playground and no crawlers allowed on the rubber mats. Children have suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns from these mats. The city currently faces three lawsuits related to playground burns, asking for damages ranging from $750,000 to $1 million. Shouldn’t these surfaces be replaced??