Playgrounds are often where children learn and practice their most important life skills of social interactions, working together with others, and problem solving capabilities. As much as adults would like to explain everything to children to prepare them for the life ahead of them, kids normally have to learn things for themselves, through their experiences and interactions with others. This is where the responsibility for maintaining appropriate playground safety becomes so important, by avoiding injuries that could potentially be avoidable. Having constant adult supervision for younger children goes a long way, because kids rarely consider potential danger when they get the idea to use playground equipment in an unintended manner that's unsafe. 

Playgrounds can't just be installed and forgotten, they require a certain amount of vigilance and responsibility to monitor and maintain the safety of the equipment and safety surfacing. A playground that fails to have a playground safety plan, is effectively planning on it failing, which result in avoidable injuries to children during what ought to be a fun & interactive experience. 

Proper playground safety planning involves a number of points to be considered. Sometimes it may be best to consult with a professional Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI) or someone knowledgable enough to provide the proper criteria based on a specific playground design, its structures, safety surfacing, age(s) and number of children accessing it, frequency of use, as well as common weather or environmental conditions that may exist.