Public Playground Safety: A Practical Guide for Local Authorities
Compliance, Capacity and Accountability in Public Play Spaces
Once installed, the safety, compliance and durability of a public playground can be difficult, and costly, to change. For local authorities planning a new outdoor play area, the most important safety decisions happen before equipment is specified, suppliers are appointed or budgets are approved.
Getting those early decisions right reduces risk, strengthens procurement confidence and protects the council long after installation is complete.
A Quick Sense Check Before You Proceed
Before committing to a new playground project, you should be confident you can answer “yes” to the following:
- Has safety been considered at design stage, not left until installation?
- Is all equipment and surfacing fully compliant with BSEN 1176 and BSEN 1177 standards?
- Can the playground cope with real-world footfall without creating congestion or misuse?
- Are long-term guarantees, documentation and aftercare clearly defined?
If any of these remain unclear, it’s worth addressing them early – when change is still straightforward and cost-effective.
1. Understanding Liability: Risk, Safety Standards, and Duty of Care
‘When planning and providing play opportunities, the goal is not to eliminate risk, but to weigh up the risks and benefits. No child will learn about risk if they are wrapped in cotton wool’ – Health and Safety Executive
Risk plays an important role in children’s development, and UK law recognises this. Well-designed play spaces are not expected to remove all risk, but to manage it appropriately, allowing children to explore, test boundaries and build confidence.
The courts acknowledge that activities such as climbing, balancing and physical challenge carry an inherent level of risk – and that this is both normal and beneficial. The focus is therefore on preventing serious or foreseeable harm, rather than eliminating every possible hazard.
The Health and Safety Executive
This balanced approach is reinforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which makes clear that play providers should control significant risks without becoming burdened by excessive paperwork or unnecessary restrictions. In its guidance Promoting a Balanced Approach, the HSE notes that while accidents can occur during play, concerns around litigation and prosecution are often overstated.
In short, effective playground safety is about proportionate risk management – supporting children’s development while meeting legal and safety expectations.
‘Play is a safe and beneficial activity’ suggests the HSE guide, ‘sensible adult judgements are all that is generally required… in making these judgements, industry standards such as BSEN 1176 offer benchmarks that can help’.
Clear, well-positioned signage forms part of a local authority’s duty of care by setting expectations for safe and appropriate use. Liability insurance should also explicitly cover playground provision as part of that responsibility.
2. Design for Real-World Use, Not Ideal Conditions
Public play areas are open-access, unsupervised and subject to times of unpredictable footfall. Safety issues rarely stem from a single defective item – they emerge when layouts fail to reflect how children actually use the space.
At the design stage, consider:
- Expected footfall based on location, transport links and nearby attractions
- Whether the site is likely to become a destination playground
- How different age groups will naturally converge and move through the area
- Where congestion is most likely to occur during busy periods
Designing for capacity from the outset reduces collision risk, discourages misuse and slows long-term wear.
3. Compliance Must Be Built-In
All new public playgrounds should be designed and installed in full compliance with:
- BSEN 1176 – Playground equipment safety
- BSEN 1177 – Impact-absorbing surfacing
These standards govern fall heights, spacing, entrapment risks and surface performance. While not legislation, they are the recognised benchmark used by insurers and courts when assessing whether reasonable care has been taken.
Learn more about BSEN Safety Standards
Compliance depends on decisions made early, including:
- Equipment selection
- Layout
- Surfacing type and depth
- Installation accuracy
If any of these are treated as an afterthought, risk can dramatically increase.
