We’ve been saying it all along: Playground safety is not child’s play.

San Diego, California– Justice News Flash reports that a $20 million settlement was finally reached in a personal injury case between Burger King and the family of a now severely brain damaged twelve-year-old.  The boy and his sister were playing on the indoor playground installed at the Temecula Burger King when the boy fell on the hard tiled floor, smashed his head, and sustained serious injuries to the brain and lungs.

The playground had been installed directly onto the restaurant floor, with no safety surfacing around the fall zone or high impact zones, such as the monkey bars and fireman’s pole.  Following two months of numerous hospitalizations, the boy still remains under the care of doctors, nurses, and therapists, who are attempting to best deal with his traumatic brain injuries.

It hurts to say it—but where have we been?  For decades, statistics have clearly shown the dangers of high impact zones in playgrounds.  Every single day, playground injuries send over 500 children to the emergency room.  How many more warnings do playground owners need before they take the initiative of installing the proper safety surfacing?

Aside from producing Playsafer, the rubber mulch surfacing proven to be number one in shock absorbency, Rubberecycle has placed particular emphasis on protecting children from high-impact falls.  For this reason, Rubberecycle’s R&D department created Wear Mats, designed to provide the absolute maximum protection specifically in high-impact zones.  Installed either above or below the surface of Rubber Mulch, Wear Mats guarantee children that extra measure of security that is so vital in high impact areas, such as around swings, at the bottom of slides, and below monkey bars.

Rather than settling multimillion dollar lawsuits, we believe that it is high time that companies such as Burger King take the proactive approach in protecting our children—and install appropriate safety surfacing in every single one of their playgrounds, indoor or outdoor.  Our children’s lives are too precious to gamble on.