Authorizes the enactment of local laws regarding playground equipment and requires the use of a temperature test on playground equipment by municipalities

Summary of specific provisions

Amends Section 399-dd of the general business law as added by chapter 519 of the laws of 2006, which is re-lettered as Section 399-ff, to add the following provisions:

- Require the consumer protection board, in consultation with the department of health, to develop a method for temperature testing of playground-equipment, and to establish a maximum potential temperature standard for such equipment (including safety surfacing), representing the temperature at which such equipment may pose a risk of burning exposed skin;

- Require any municipality that constructs, installs, or maintains playgrounds or playground equipment to promulgate rules and regulations requiring:

o as part of the design for any new playground equipment, an analysis of the potential for such equipment to exceed the maximum potential temperature set by the consumer protection board;

o as part of such municipality's playground inspection and maintenance procedures, the performance of temperature tests on playground equipment, cities of one million or more to begin such tests by May 1, 2011, and cities of fewer than one million to begin such tests by May 1, 2012; This section shall not pertain to playgrounds built prior to the effective date of this act in municipalities with a population of less then a million people; and

o specification of procedures for mitigation of any significant health hazards identified during any inspection;

- This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.

Justification

Each year dozens of children are treated in bum centers in New York State due to injuries caused by playground equipment reaching dangerous temperatures. This figure does not include

children treated for bums in emergency rooms in local hospitals or by pediatricians. For example, in May of 2007, temperatures on a playground mat reached 167 degrees, causing second degree bums that peeled the skin off the soles of a two-year-old's feet in only a few seconds. The child was hospitalized in a bum unit for four days.

In January of 2009, New York City Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito introduced Resolution 1782-2009, calling upon the State Legislature to pass legislation requiring temperature testing. A hearing on the Council members resolution further revealed that this problem was well documented. The City's Department of Parks and Recreation testified in February, 2009 that it was installing more canopies and coverings to shade playground equipment from the sun, introducing more water features to promote cooling, and that it had ceased using crumb rubber fields due to extreme heating concerns. However, the City also testified that it generally relied on "common sense" and some 200 signs warning against going barefoot in playgrounds.

This is an insufficient response. Not only does footwear cover a fraction of a child's body (leaving open the question of how a parent is to protect a child's legs, hands, or other exposed skin), but the reliance on signage places an undue burden on the public to protect their children from materials or equipment that are commonly considered safety-enhancing rather than hazardous.

Playgrounds should be safe havens for families, not pit-stops on the way to emergency rooms. Despite the common occurrence of these injuries, neither the Consumer Product Safety Commission nor the American Society of Testing Materials requires heat testing for equipment or materials installed in playgrounds. This legislation would remedy this gap in our regulatory framework.

Prior legislative history

None.

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.