Playground Injuries: Who Is Responsible?

Playgrounds appear on our page about dangerous conditions of public and private property because broken equipment, worn-out surfacing and missing guardrails can turn a fall into a fracture or a head injury. When a child is hurt, parents usually want to know two things: who had the duty to keep the playground safe, and how much time the family has. In California, both answers turn on who operates the playground.

This guide covers the playground safety statute, the rules for public playgrounds at parks and schools, the rules for privately run play areas, and the special deadline traps that apply when the injured person is a child.

What happens after a playground injury, step by step?

Medical care and records. Get your child seen and keep every record and bill.
Photograph the equipment and the ground. Include the piece your child fell from, its height, the surface underneath, and any broken or missing parts, with something in the frame for scale.
Find out who runs the playground. A city or county park, a park and recreation district, a school district, or a private operator such as a church, a shopping center, a restaurant or a child care center.
Report the injury in writing to the school, park department or business, and ask for a copy of any incident report.
If a public entity runs it, present a written claim within six months (Government Code 911.2), even though the injured person is a child.
Bring the claim and, if needed, a lawsuit. A parent acts for the child, and any settlement of a minor's claim needs court approval (Probate Code 3500).

Who is responsible, and what is the deadline?

Who runs the playground	Examples	Legal standard	First deadline
A city or county	A neighborhood or regional park	Dangerous condition of public property (Gov. Code 835); employee negligence (Gov. Code 815.2)	Written claim within 6 months (Gov. Code 911.2)
A school district or park and recreation district	A school play yard; a district park	Same as above; supervision by school staff	Written claim within 6 months; the minority pause does not apply (CCP 352(b))
A private operator open to the public	A church, hotel, resort, camp, shopping center, restaurant, hospital, office, subdivision or day care setting	Ordinary care (Civ. Code 1714; CACI 1001); playground standards (HSC 115725)	2 years, paused until the child turns 18 (CCP 335.1, 352(a))
A home, a licensed family child care home or a foster family home	A backyard play set	Ordinary care; family child care homes are regulated by the State Department of Social Services, not section 115725	2 years, paused until 18
An equipment maker or installer	A defective slide, swing chain or anchor	Product liability or negligence	Generally 2 years, paused until 18

What safety standards must a playground meet?

California's playground safety statute, Health and Safety Code 115725, requires every new playground open to the public, whether built by a public agency or any other entity, to conform to the playground standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the playground guidelines of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Replacement equipment and modified components inside an existing playground must meet the same standards (Health and Safety Code 115725(a) and (b)).

The statute defines a "playground" as an improved outdoor area designed, equipped and set aside for children's play, not an athletic field or court, and it includes the equipment, the fall zones, the surface materials, access ramps and everything within the enclosure (Health and Safety Code 115725(e)(2)). So the ground a child lands on is part of the playground under the statute, not only the equipment above it.

Operators, public and private, must have a playground safety inspector certified by the National Playground Safety Institute do an initial inspection to help with compliance (Health and Safety Code 115725(c)). Playgrounds installed from 1994 through 1999 had 15 years to conform (Health and Safety Code 115725(d)). The list of private operators covered includes churches, subdivisions, hotels, motels, resorts, camps, offices, hospitals, shopping centers, day care settings and restaurants (Health and Safety Code 115725(e)(1)), and child care centers regulated by the State Department of Social Services must comply as well (Health and Safety Code 115725(f)).

When is a school or park district responsible?

Cities, counties, school districts and park districts are all public entities (Government Code 811.2), and each is its own. Santa Rosa's City government, for example, tells residents that the school districts are not part of City government, so a claim about a school play yard goes to the district, not the City.

A public entity can be responsible in two main ways. The first is a dangerous condition of its property: a condition that creates a substantial risk of injury to people using it with due care, plus either an employee's act that created it or notice in time to fix it (Government Code 830 and 835). A decision the Judicial Council quotes under CACI 1102 says that risk is measured by how the general public would use the property with due care, including children, who are held to a lower standard of care. Our guide on what makes public property legally dangerous walks through each element.

The second is an employee's own negligence on the job, such as careless supervision at recess, for which the entity is generally liable when the employee would be (Government Code 815.2). Off campus, a school district is not responsible for a pupil's conduct or safety unless it provided transportation, ran a school-sponsored activity, otherwise took on that responsibility, or failed to use reasonable care under the circumstances (Education Code 44808).

Ordinary playground play is not among the "hazardous recreational activities" the immunity statute names, although trampolining, tree climbing and body contact sports are (Government Code 831.7(b)(3)); an entity could still argue that an activity fits the statute's general definition of a recreational activity creating a substantial risk of injury (Government Code 831.7(b)). Even for listed activities, the entity stays liable for failing to properly build or maintain equipment used in the activity (Government Code 831.7(c)(1)(C)). Play areas inside larger parks raise the trail and natural condition rules explained in our guide on falls on a trail or in a park.

When is a private operator responsible?

A church, restaurant, hotel, apartment owner or child care center that runs a playground must use reasonable care to keep it reasonably safe, to discover unsafe conditions, and to repair them or warn of them (Civil Code 1714; CACI 1001). In deciding whether the operator was careful, a jury may weigh the likelihood and seriousness of harm, whether the operator knew or should have known of the condition, and how hard it would have been to protect against it (CACI 1001). An operator must make reasonable inspections, and a long gap between inspections can suggest a hazard existed long enough to be found (CACI 1011).

A violation of the playground statute can also help prove carelessness. When a violation causes the kind of injury a statute was meant to prevent, to the kind of person it was meant to protect, the law presumes a lack of due care, though the operator can try to rebut it (Evidence Code 669). If the equipment itself failed, the maker or installer may also be responsible; see our page on defective product injuries.

Which deadline applies to my child's claim?

For a claim against a private operator, the usual two-year limit (Code of Civil Procedure 335.1) does not run while the injured person is under 18 (Code of Civil Procedure 352(a)). That pause does not apply to a claim that must first be presented to a public entity (Code of Civil Procedure 352(b)), so a claim against a city, county or school or park district is due within six months of the injury.

If the six months pass, an application for leave to present a late claim may be made within a reasonable time, no later than one year, and the time as a minor counts toward that year (Government Code 911.4). The entity must grant the application if the child was a minor for the whole six months (Government Code 911.6(b)(2)). Relying on that rule is risky, and the six-month date is the one to meet. Our guide on how an injury claim works for a child covers court approval and what happens to the money. The rest of the time limits are in California personal injury deadlines.

What changes the answer?

The injury happened during school hours. Supervision by teachers and staff becomes part of the claim, and the district answers for its employees' negligence on the job (Government Code 815.2).

The playground is in a backyard or a family child care home. Section 115725 does not reach licensed family child care homes or foster family homes, which the State Department of Social Services regulates (Health and Safety Code 115725(e)(1)); the owner still owes ordinary care. Injuries at a relative's or friend's home are covered in our guide on falls at a friend's or relative's home.

The equipment was old. The standards reach new playgrounds, replacement equipment and modified components, and playgrounds installed from 1994 through 1999 (Health and Safety Code 115725). For other older equipment, the question is whether the operator used ordinary care, or whether the condition was dangerous under the public property statutes.

A pool or water feature was nearby. Pools follow separate safety statutes; see who is responsible for a pool injury or drowning.

The child died. The parents' claim is a wrongful death claim with its own measure of damages, explained in what parents can recover for the death of a child.

What could this look like? An example

For example, imagine a six-year-old who falls from the highest platform of a climbing structure at a Petaluma city park. The wood chips under the structure have worn down to packed dirt, and the child breaks an arm. Neighbors had complained to the City about the worn surfacing the spring before.

The fall zone and surface material are part of the "playground" under Health and Safety Code 115725(e)(2), and worn surfacing on a public playground could be a dangerous condition if it created a substantial risk to children using the equipment with due care (Government Code 830). The neighbors' complaints would bear on notice (Government Code 835.2). Because the City is a public entity, the parents would need to present a written claim within six months, even though their child is a minor (Code of Civil Procedure 352(b)). Any settlement would then go to the superior court for approval (Probate Code 3500). This example is made up to show how the rules fit together; it says nothing about any real case.

What mistakes do parents make?

Assuming a child's claim against a school or city is paused until age 18, when the six-month claim still applies.
Sending the claim to the City when a school district or park district runs the playground.
Photographing only the equipment and not the surface underneath it.
Waiting for the school's internal review to finish before presenting the claim.
Settling with an insurer without the court approval a minor's claim requires.

What should we do this week?

Photograph the equipment, the height of the fall and the surface, with a ruler or a shoe for scale.
Ask the school, park department or business in writing for the incident report and to keep any video.
Find out who owns the playground; if it is public, write the six-month date on your calendar.
List the names of adults and other parents who saw the fall or the condition.
Keep every medical record, bill and note about missed school or work in one folder.
For a public playground, read our guide on how to file a claim against a city, county or the State.

Frequently asked questions

Can I see the playground's safety inspection report?

The statute requires an initial inspection by a certified inspector and says the report may serve as a reference for upgrades but is not intended for any other use (Health and Safety Code 115725(c)). Whether it can be obtained in a claim is a question for the facts and the court.

Is a school responsible for an injury before the school day starts?

It can be, depending on whether staff were supervising and whether the school failed to use reasonable care. The rules for off-campus safety are in Education Code 44808.

Does the statute cover a playground at an apartment complex or a subdivision?

The statute covers entities operating a playground open to the public and lists subdivisions among them (Health and Safety Code 115725(e)(1)). Whether a residents-only play area is "open to the public" can be disputed, but the owner owes ordinary care either way (Civil Code 1714).

Is a park district separate from the city?

Yes. A district is its own public entity (Government Code 811.2), so a claim about a district park goes to the district, on its own terms and within the same six months.

Can I file for my child in Sonoma County court?

For an injury, the superior court of the county where it happened, or where a defendant lives, is generally a proper court (Code of Civil Procedure 395). See what to expect at Sonoma County Superior Court in an injury case.

What if my child was partly at fault, for example by climbing where they should not?

A decision quoted under CACI 1102 notes that children are held to a lower standard of care than adults. A person's own lack of care may reduce what is recovered (Civil Code 1714(a)), but it does not decide whether the playground was unsafe.

If your child was hurt on a playground, contact Young Law Group today at (707) 343-0556 or through our contact page for a free consultation.

My child was hurt on a playground: who is responsible?