ATLANTA, July 29, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- On Wednesday, July 30, 2003, the 'grades' and photos of the Keenan's Kids Foundation Playground Safety Report Card Project will be released. Shockingly, 29 of 30 public-use playgrounds in the metro Atlanta area are unsafe: dead tree limbs, exposed electrical wires and sharp edges are among the most glaring defects. The Keenan's Kids Foundation, celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year, first recognized the importance of -- and need for improvement in -- playground safety with the heartbreaking death of 2-1/2 year old Hannah Helms. Hannah was killed by a falling rotten tree limb while playing on a slide; tragically, park maintenance personnel had been instructed to cut down that very limb two weeks prior to the accident that took Hannah's life.
Unfortunately, Hannah's death is not that unusual: every 2-1/2 minutes, a child is rushed to an emergency room from a playground. It's a fact that children are statistically more likely to be seriously injured each year on a playground than they are in bicycle or automobile accidents. On average, a child dies each month due to a playground-related injury. Falls onto insufficient surfacing materials are the number one cause of non-fatal injuries at playgrounds; 28 of the 30 Atlanta parks surveyed lack sufficient surfacing materials.
AVAILABLE AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE:
-- Over 100 photos of safety violations in Metro Atlanta -- List of surveyed parks -- Actual graded report cards -- Volunteers -- Victims' family
"It doesn't take a certified safety expert to recognize an exposed electrical wire, a diseased tree limb, a sharp edge or unsafe and deteriorating equipment," according to Dr. Frances Wallach, nationally renowned playground safety expert who assisted the Keenan's Kids Foundation with the report card used to critique Atlanta's playgrounds.
The Press Conference will be held at 148 Nassau Street, Atlanta, GA 30303.
For more information on this project, please visit www.keenanskidsplaygroundsafety.com. For more information on the Keenan's Kids Foundation, visit www.keenanskidsfoundation.com.