Residential Swing Sets

Safety on residential swing sets begins even before the actual purchase, construction and assembly of the equipment.

Selecting the appropriate location for your new residential swing set is the first of many steps toward safety of your children. To ensure that the residential swing set will not tip over, the area that you choose must be completely level. Additionally, the ideal location will be at least six feet away from potential hazards such as trees, low branches and wires, stumps, roots, large rocks, posts, walls, fences, bricks, concrete and glass. Ideally, there should be even more than six feet in front and in back of the residential swing set. Furthermore, it would be best to position the residential swing set out of the direct sunlight as its surfaces may become overheated and cause burns.

The second step in keeping your children safe is laying out protective surface such as pea gravel, sand, wood chips and shredded rubber mulch under the residential swing set and around it.

The third step in keeping your children safe is by making sure that the materials used for the residential swing set of your choice is treated properly. If you choose metal, the metal must be galvanized and coated with lead-free rust-resistant paint. If wood is chosen then it must be treated to resist rotting and insects. Any sharp edges, protrusions, or splinters must be covered or removed.

The fourth step in keeping your children safe is to ensure that lock-washers or self-locking nuts are used to prevent loosening. All exposed bolts must be capped. All “S” hooks must be closed tightly and all residential swing set hardware must be resistant to corrosion.

The fifth step in keeping your children safe is by anchoring your residential swing set to the protective ground surface. Bury anchors and all other ground-level potential danger under the ground surface.

The sixth step in keeping your children safe is by using the following guidelines recommended by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) when shopping for a residential swing set:

- All rungs, steps, posts, and railings must be evenly spaced.
- So that children cannot get stuck, openings between rungs, steps, posts, and railings must either be smaller than 3½ inches or larger than 9 inches.
- Any platform over 30 inches above the protective playground surface must have guardrails or barriers.
- To avoid entangled clothing, there must not be any gaps or outcroppings between the slide entrance and the slide bed.
- To prevent trapping a child’s head or neck, all V-shaped angles that are open upwards must be filled.
- Bike helmets should not be worn while playing on residential swing sets.
- Ropes, loose clothing, leashes, or scarves must be kept away from all residential swing sets.
- Children of all ages must be closely supervised by responsible adults at all times while playing on the residential swing sets.

The seventh step in keeping your children safe is by maintaining and inspecting the residential swing sets on a regular basis. Bolts, nuts, caps, chains, cables and other features of the residential swing set need to be checked and tightened or replaced as needed.

Children are only concerned with having as much fun as possible while using the residential swing set. With proper precautions and application of the safety recommendations, their fun will continue for many joy-filled years.