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The Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 require ECE centres to have premises and facilities that support safe and healthy practices. The licensing criteria for ECE services aim to uphold the safety of children by ensuring that all items, equipment, furniture, materials and surfacing used in the service is of a standard that is considered safe.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 – New Zealand Legislation
Criteria related to playground safety:
PF5 – centre-based ECE services
PF5 – ngā kōhanga reo
PF3 – hospital-based ECE services
PF11 – home-based ECE services
PF7 – playgroups.
It is the responsibility of service providers to demonstrate that the playground structures, equipment and surfacing are safe and meet the relevant criteria. Ministry of Education licensing staff complete an inspection of each ECE service’s playground equipment and surfacing as part of the licensing assessment process.
If there are concerns, the service provider may be asked for additional evidence such as a certificate of compliance that shows the equipment and/or surfacing comply with the New Zealand standard for playground equipment and surfacing, NZS5828:2015. In some cases, the service provider may be required to have a comprehensive inspection of their premises and facilities completed. This would need to be completed by an appropriately qualified expert such as an engineer or qualified playground safety inspector.
Note: Those offering an inspection or assessment service (especially for detailed inspections or compliance checks) should be able to produce evidence of relevant qualifications and training in inspecting against NZS5828:2015.
Purchasing and installing playground equipment and surfacing
Before purchasing new equipment or safety surfacing, service providers should ensure that the product has been tested against the specifications of NZS5828:2015 and the manufacturer can supply a certificate of compliance for that product.
ECE services should check with any potential manufacturer/supplier that a certificate of compliance is available before purchase (for example a certificated manufacturer may have added a new piece of equipment to its range since certification and the new product may not comply with NZS5828:2015).
Newly installed playground equipment or safety surfacing must have a certificate of compliance to show that it is installed according to the manufacturer's instructions. These may be asked for during the licence assessment process.
Standard for playground equipment and surfacing
The New Zealand standard for playground equipment and surfacing is NZS5828:2015 Playground equipment and surfacing. Copies of NZS5828:2015 are available for purchase from Standards New Zealand. This standard is aimed primarily at manufacturers and installers of playground equipment, so is written in technical language.
