NRPA offered to develop a proposal that could later be used as the basis of a mandatory Federal regulation in response to an invitation in the Federal Register on March 7. An agreement accepting the NRPA offer was signed by the Commission and the Association on July 14.
According to Commission injury records, public playground equipment, including swings, slides, seesaws and climbing apparatus, was associated with an estimated 55,000 injuries requiring hospital emergency room treatment in 1973.
The NRPA proposal is due to be submitted to the Commission by October 13, 1975, although the date could be extended for good cause.
The Commission will regulate playground equipment under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act as amended but has decided to use procedures similar to those used to develop safety standards under the Consumer Product Safety Act in order to have full public participation in the development process, a Commission official said.
The Commission has agreed to contribute $87,650 toward the costs of developing the proposal. The funds primarily are budgeted for technical work at the Franklin Institute Research Laboratories, Philadelphia, Pa., and for consumer travel and per diem. Playground equipment manufacturers will contribute $25,000.
The NRPA effort will be directed by a 13-member development panel consisting of five consumers (two technically oriented and three "user" oriented); four industry representatives; three buyer-installer representatives from parks, recreation and schools fields; and one NRPA representative who will coordinate the project.
The development panel will receive input from the public and from task groups appointed to deal with six major playground hazard areas identified by the Commission: contact with or by fixed or moving parts; falls from equipment; contact with surfaces; entrapment in equipment; structural failure; layout, installation, maintenance and human factors problems.
The development panel also will rely on advice from a talent bank composed of individuals and organizations with expertise in law, engineering, economics, and psychology. Copies of the Federal Register notice and formal agreement are available from the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 1750 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20207.
About the U.S. CPSC
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of injuries associated with consumer products over the past 50 years.
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