In fewer than three seconds, a child’s skin can burn from playground equipment. Their favorite slide could be the culprit.
Playground equipment, according to the National Program for Playground Safety, can reach temperatures of up to 189 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s just 23 degrees from the boiling point of water.
Following the heatwave we had in New York, how likely is it for a child to get burned from playground equipment? Thankfully, it's not that common upstate.
We instinctively pull away immediately when we touch something hot. That brings us to the first piece of advice from health professionals: Do what’s called the touch test before you let a little one, even yourself, on a swing, slide or any surface that bare skin will touch.
Ben Kasper, the injury prevention specialist at Oishei Children’s Hospital, says materials used now heat up less. But that doesn’t mean they won’t get hot.
It doesn’t need to be an extremely hot day, either. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has one reported incident from a 74-degree day, where a child received serious second‐degree burns from a plastic slide.
The most common injury, if any, is a superficial wound. If you notice blistering, call the doctor.
There’s something else to keep in mind.
“You can think about it just when you're on like the beach or you're on a roadway; it's much hotter when you have direct sunlight on that opposed to other surfaces, such as a lot of them are ... a rubber type material with cushion," said Kasper.
Kasper says it does radiate less heat. Regardless, playgrounds are built to keep kids moving. Those two factors could lead to a heat-related illness.
And it’s not just playground equipment that heats up. Benches get toasty, too. Don’t forget to check those for yourself.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology posted the following skin temperatures and the associated damage:
- 111 degrees: We feel pain
- 118 degrees: First-degree burn
- 131 degrees: Second-degree burn with blistering
- 140 degrees: Burned tissue becomes numb and susceptible to more burning
- 162 degrees: Skin tissue is instantly destroyed