Playground Guide - 2016 - 11
There Is Value in Professional
Certification for Playground
Inspectors
By Kenneth S. Kutska, CPSI
[Ed. Note: This is part one of four installments wherein author
Kenneth Kutska explores the merits of CPSI certification through
the lens of research conducted by Dwight Curtis, Ph.D., during
his graduate work at the University of Idaho. Curtis now serves as
Parks and Recreation Director for the city of Moscow, Idaho. This
piece has been edited for length and content.]
I
n the late 1990s I met a Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI) candidate by the name of Dwight Curtis.
This young man was very interested in conducting his
Ph.D. research on the " parks " side of our profession and expressed a particular desire to focus on the area of playground
safety. We chatted about many things related to playground
management. My suggestions focused on the new emerging
playground safety standards and whether or not these standards and our CPSI training were having any measurable
impact on public playground safety and injury reduction. I
believed in my gut the CPSI program and its national certification designation, while still very new at that time, was
having a significant positive impact resulting in a measurable
reduction in playground injuries and long-term, significant
cost savings from less litigation.
These theories were nothing more than my opinions based
on personal observations during the previous 10 years. I attributed these perceived improvements to the industry-wide
need for CPSI training, demonstrated by the rapidly increasing number of courses and participants. I also observed a
steady increase in awareness among playground managers
of the most common playground hazards. This, coupled
with major efforts to address common playground hazards
by the playground equipment designers and manufacturers,
were all positive steps in improving the basic safety of the
playground environment. Unfortunately, there was no research data to prove my observations right or wrong.
I suggested Curtis consider a research project that would
prove, one way or the other, that there was true, measureable
value in being a CPSI. I believed all agencies that hired a trained
and experienced CPSI would also benefit in other measureable
ways. I was of the opinion that when research could demonstrate the positive impact of a CPSI, that NRPA would be able
to convince all policy makers and agency managers of the need
for, and value of, having a CPSI on staff in every park and recreation agency, school district and childcare facility in America.
I also believed the benefits of having CPSIs on staff should be
able to be measured within every playground equipment and
surface system designer/manufacturer, distributor, installer or
private contractor involved in creating public playgrounds.
It took approximately 15 years to compile some research to support the value of a CPSI. The following information comes from
Curtis's Ph.D. dissertation and outlines just a portion of the data
supporting the utility of having a trained, skilled CPSI on staff.
Abstract
Despite the implementation of CPSI programs to reduce injuries, the United States still faces high injury rates on public
playgrounds. The objective of Curtis' study was to examine
playground certification effectiveness on reducing reported
injuries on public playgrounds in California.
A correlational framework was utilized to examine relationships among playground injuries in three different-size
municipalities and CPSI certification in the state of California during a 10-year period.
Additionally, the influence of playground safety inspectors' and their supervisors' beliefs and attitudes about certification status, experience level and available resources on
injury outcomes was also investigated.
Survey data was collected primarily online from 247 inspectors, their supervisors and organizational risk-management specialists, with a response rate of 60.3 percent.
The number of playground safety inspectors increased
48.7 percent during the past decade. Statistical analysis of
injury rates for three assessment years (2000, 2005 and 2010)
in three different city sizes and for two types of certification
status, resulted in significant differences in injuries over time,
certification status by time, city size by time, and certification status by city size by time. These analyses found greater
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Parks & Recreation
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Playground Guide - 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Playground Guide - 2016
Playground Guide - 2016 - 1
Playground Guide - 2016 - 2
Playground Guide - 2016 - 3
Playground Guide - 2016 - 4
Playground Guide - 2016 - 5
Playground Guide - 2016 - 6
Playground Guide - 2016 - 7
Playground Guide - 2016 - 8
Playground Guide - 2016 - 9
Playground Guide - 2016 - 10
Playground Guide - 2016 - 11
Playground Guide - 2016 - 12
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Playground Guide - 2016 - 22
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Playground Guide - 2016 - 28
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