Is a playground audit mandatory?

While not required by federal or most state laws, playground audits help to ensure a useful baseline regarding safety for newly-installed playgrounds and to check in on the safety of existing ones. Playground audits are perhaps best thought of in the same vein as going to the doctor for one’s yearly physical; in either case, they’re meant to check overall health and ensure that everything is in good working order. In this analogy, certified playground safety inspectors (or CPSIs for short) are much akin to doctors, as they both utilize their training and expertise to identify areas that can be improved and subsequently offer useful feedback.

When it comes to playground safety, there are no greater experts than CPSIs. When conducting playground audits, CPSIs focus on specific elements of playground safety to ensure that the whole space is fit for children at play.

When a new playground is installed, an audit offers the chance for a CPSI to draw up a highly-detailed overview of a playground, and to ensure that all components comprising each and every piece of equipment were installed properly and with the utmost degree of safety in mind. Outside of initial installation, yearly playground audits function as ‘check-ups’ that give playground operators a better understanding of their playground’s compliance with crucial safety standards, including those comprising CPSC and ASTM regulations.

By scheduling an initial audit as well as yearly follow-up audits, you can increase the lifespan of your playground while making it a safe, inviting place for children to play on for years to come. The role of a CPSI is not just to conduct audits, but to offer feedback that’s related to your specific playground.