Creating safe, outdoor spaces is the goal of any parks and recreation department. But maintaining a high level of safety with regular public park inspections and maintenance can be costly and time-consuming.
At Playground Guardian, we believe maintaining playgrounds should be simple, affordable, and accessible to every park, no matter the size! Today we’ll be discussing how innovative new technologies like Park Protector can improve your public park safety.
Traditional Inspection Options for Parks and Recreation Departments
Traditionally, many parks and recreation departments have utilized a third-party inspector to ensure the safety of their parks and playgrounds. These contractors are typically certified playground safety inspectors (CPSIs) who have been trained to inspect components found on playgrounds and in public parks.
However, you may not be able to find a CPSI in your area. And even if you can find a local CPSI, they may be expensive or unavailable. In this case, many parks and recreation departments opt to train a member of their own team. While this option may be more affordable, certification is still time-consuming. And, if the team member leaves, your department may find itself back at square one.
Park Protector: A Modern Park and Playground Inspection Option
As a third-generation company in the park and playground industry, we’ve seen playground managers struggle with inspections for decades. There had to be a better way to empower park managers to ensure public park safety on a budget. So, we put our certified inspectors and builders to work creating an innovative solution that solved the problems playground managers face.
The result? Park Protector – a web-based software that guides you through the inspection process so you can tackle playground safety easily.
How it Works:
Park Protector is a comprehensive solution for managing playground inspections, maintenance, and repairs. Here’s how it can take your parks and recreation department to the next level:
1. Perform Inspections With Ease
One of the biggest pain points in park and playground inspection is a lack of knowledge. Park and playground managers want to feel confident that their spaces are safe. And, they want the expertise of a certified inspector.
Park Protector guides you through the public park inspection process with easy-to-answer questions and prompts written by our very own CPSIs. Points of inspection include:
- Park playgrounds
- Playground and play area surfacing
- Walkways
- Benches
- Restrooms
- Pavillions and gazebos
- Tennis courts, pools, and other facilities
You need no prior knowledge to inspect your playground safely with Park Protector. And, using Park Protector over time will help you grow your expertise so you can identify problems and hazards faster in the future.
2. Manage Repairs & Generate Work Orders
The next pain point we aimed to solve was translating hazards into simple, affordable repairs that ensure long-term public park safety.
Through the guided inspection process, Park Protector will help you understand the maintenance and repairs required to keep your park in working order. Whether you need a simple fix or a major makeover, you can manage scheduling and track progress all in one place.
Once you have a list of the maintenance items or repairs that need to be completed, you can create work orders directly in the Park Protector software. Add photos and descriptions to help your team or a third-party contractor get to work right away.
And, if you ever need documentation for insurance or legal purposes, you’ll have a comprehensive history of your public park safety at your fingertips.
3. Analyze Your Inspection Data
One of the major problems with hiring a park or playground inspector is that they only see your space for one moment in time. They may not be aware of your equipment’s history or previous repairs. This limits their ability to see the bigger picture and help you predict issues before they occur.
Park Protector allow you to track progress on maintenance and repairs. It also provides comprehensive reports to help you analyze the overall condition of your park over time. These reports can help you predict future issues and mitigate them with a simple preventative maintenance schedule to save you time and money down the road.
4. Schedule Future Inspections & Maintenance
Finally, managing a public park safety team can be difficult, especially when working with part-time staff members, volunteers, or third-party contractors.
Park Protector allows you to manage schedules and add deadlines and reminders for inspections, maintenance, and more to keep your parks and rec safety initiatives on track.
Why Park Protector?
Whether you manage a single playground or an entire system of parks, Park Protector can help you streamline your inspection process and improve the safety of your parks.
All inspection data is saved within our cloud-based system, meaning you can access it anytime, anywhere, and from any device. You can even access your data while offline, so there’s no need to worry if you don’t have wireless service on-site.
At the end of the day, our goal is to make playground and public park inspection more affordable and accessible to parks across the country with the power of technology.
Interested in seeing how Park Protector can improve your public park safety? Get a free trial to see if it’s the right fit for your park or playground.
