HOUSTON – More than 200,000 children are rushed to emergency rooms every year in the U.S. after getting hurt on playground equipment. It's why KPRC 2 News wanted to know just how safe are Houston area playgrounds?
Channel 2 Investigates dug through hundreds of inspection records to show you hidden hazards that parks departments should be correcting.
This time of year there is no place more popular among the sippy cup set than the playground.
"Nicholas got hurt on the monkey bars," one dad told Channel 2 Investigates. "I asked him to make a fist, which he could not."
Sometimes, play time at the playground can result in painful injuries when play equipment is not properly maintained.
"She has gotten her head stuck between two bars," Victoria Foster told us about her daughter.
[READ: Public Playground Safety Handbook]
The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends routine inspections of public playground equipment, and even provides a checklist for inspectors. It says inspection and repair records should be kept on file.
Channel 2 Investigates obtained inspection records from the city of Houston and Harris County, but we discovered some parks aren't keeping records at all -- like Fort Bend County.
Consumer Expert Amy Davis spoke with Parks Department Director Mike Davis.
"Why don't you guys keep these records?" Davis asked.
Mike replied, "Well, right now, I don't have a certified playground inspector."
The Fort Bend County Parks Department that oversees 12 public parks uses maintenance employees to do checks when they're mowing the parks and picking up trash. But with no records and no checklists, it's unclear how quickly dangerous conditions are discovered and corrected.
"How confident should parents be that these parks are safe?" Davis asked.
Mike replied, "I wouldn't tell them that they are completely safe, because they are small kids, and they do fall, but if they wanted to come and use the park, I'd be pretty confident they'd be OK."
And even when cities and counties do regular inspections, independent playground inspector John Holas said that some things go unrepaired.
At Milroy Park on Yale in the Heights, Holas gave us a walk-through and told us the pea gravel used as ground cover is not deep enough. It should be at least 9 inches to protect little ones in a fall.
The width of some bars on the playground equipment are a strangulation hazard, and he found screws with too much exposed threading.
"That may catch a piece of clothing or a hoodie or a string and it will leave a child where they're in a dangling position, unfortunately, almost like a hanging," Holas said.
Harris County inspection records from 2015 showed trip hazards at Challenger 7 Memorial Park in Webster, a problem we found is still not corrected.
There's hazardous wear and tear at Jack Morman park in Cloverleaf.
And in the city of Houston, there are dozens of examples of "inadequate playground surfaces" like not enough wood chips at Peggy, Marron or River Oaks playgrounds.
One mom showed us why it's important ground cover is deep enough.
"See this metal pipe jutting up from the ground, just a few feet from the swings?"
She said the pipe has been there for months.
The National Playground Safety Institute (NPSI) has identified 12 of the leading causes of injury on playgrounds.