National Home Safety Month: 10 Tips for Designing a Safer Backyard Playground

June is National Home Safety Month and it's a great time for parents to improve safety for their kids by learning about the risks posed by backyard playgrounds.

"In order to design a safe playground, it's important for parents to consider all the 'what ifs' and worst-case scenarios that could happen," said Jim Perretty, executive vice president and COO of Children of America. "Rusty nails aren't the only culprits behind playground injuries. Even items that seem totally harmless on the surface - like sandboxes and slides - can pose risks to small children who use them improperly."

According to the CDC, more than 200,000 kids are treated in hospital ERs each year for playground-related injuries - and rusty nails aren't the only culprits.

In order to play it safe, Children of America, a national childcare provider that has designed its playgrounds to be the safest in the country, recommends parents follow these "10 Tips to Design a Safer Backyard Playground":

(1) Play equipment should be plastic, not wood or aluminum
(2) Check all play equipment for any sharp corners or edges, raised nails or screws
(3) Use rubber matting, not grass, sand, or wood chips
(4) Rubber matting should extend six feet in all directions from the play equipment
(5) No open chains on swings, use plastic covers or nylon chords
(6) Swing sets should be plastic or rubber
(7) All above ground equipment should have guard rails
(8) Make sure slides are deep, with raised sides
(9) A fence (preferably, a plastic private fence) should enclose the playground or backyard
(10) Divide play areas between toddlers and kids over 2 yrs