The claimant (child) was travelling across a bridge in the playground and fell through a confined space causing a broken femur, cuts and bruises. The claimant alleged that the playground was unsafe and had design flaws that didn’t prevent children from injuring themselves.
The City had contracted out the design and construction of the playground, which is common for local governments to do.
At the time of construction, the playground was assessed to have met the required standards and guidelines being:
Every month the City comprehensively inspects the playground to identify any issues.
The City also installed signage to warn members of the public of the general risks of the playground and related activities (i.e. a general warning to parents) in this specific situation the signage provided the following:
Over 120 people attended the CEO Breakfast or Local Government Risk Forum on Tuesday 6 September 2022, at Crown Perth.
Representatives from across the state — from Port Hedland to Esperance and everywhere in between joined together to network and explore current risk issues for the sector.
WorkCover WA is the government agency responsible for regulating and administrating the workers’ compensation scheme in Western Australia under the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981.
Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary from minor to catastrophic. The start of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 was sudden, unexpected and incredibly difficult for many.
LGIS considered a range of factors – in particular that playgrounds in general have a risk versus reward environment which essentially means, a playground aims to manage a balance between the need to offer risk and the need to keep children safe from serious harm.
Not all play involves risk taking, but there are positive benefits of risky play. Paradoxically, there is a possibility that children exposed to too little challenge may take inappropriate risks, where the chance of injury is high, because they lack the ability to judge risk levels and lack skills to tackle it.
A pivotal aspect of balancing this need to provide children with new experiences and risk and the need to keep children safe, is the reliance upon adult supervision to enhance a safer environment, to ensure an optimal learning experience. The playground in question had signage advising that parent supervision was required.
Signage at the entrance to the playground clearly describes what activities and equipment are placed in each area, allowing adults to choose the area that best reflects their child’s abilities.
Considering all of the above LGIS found that:
Ultimately the City was not liable and the claim was successfully denied on behalf of the member.
Lessons from this case
The defence in this case was strong because:
Local governments are community makers, providing the places that create connection and a sense of belonging.
The City of Bunbury’s new youth precinct, Koolambidi Woola, has successfully married design and a strong risk management approach to deliver for the local community
The claimant, a cyclist, was riding his bike along a shared bike/footpath. He allegedly slipped on the path’s ‘slow down’ warning signage, injuring his ankle and knee. In his claim, the cyclist alleged that the signage was slippery and had a design flaw.
LGIS is the unifying name for the dedicated suite of risk financing and management services for WA local governments, established by the WA Local Government Association in conjunction with JLT Public Sector (part of the Marsh group of companies). LGIS is managed by JLT Public Sector (ABN 69 009 098 864 AFS Licence 226827).
Risk Matters, via this website, is designed to keep members, their staff and elected members informed on topical risk management and insurance issues and LGIS programs and services.
