The Ombudsman of Spain, Soledad Becerril, presented the Joint Committee for relations with the Office of the Ombudsman with the case study “Seguridad y accesibilidad de las áreas de juego infantil” (Safety and accessibility of children’s play areas) at. The study analyses safety in children’s playgrounds and stresses the importance of accessibility in these play areas, so that children with disabilities are able to use them.
The Institution considers that there is room for improvement in the safety and accessibility of children’s playgrounds. Accordingly, it has made seven safety-related and four accessibility-related recommendations.
On the subject of safety, it recommends the approval of a state, autonomous regional and local regulation that establishes the minimum safety requirements that children’s play areas should meet. It also recommends that district councils should periodically inspect the facilities, and the results made available on municipal web pages.
As regards accessibility, it asks for continual steps to be taken to remove architectural barriers, recommends regulating some minimum accessibility requirements and advocates making the most of maintenance tasks to make these playgrounds gradually more accessible.
