Abstract
Accident reports from 376 kindergartens and nursery schools in Nagoya were reviewed for statistical analyses for the purpose of developing guidelines to improve the safety of play equipments. Of all accidents in these children's facilities, 353 cases (24.3%) were attributable to play equipments. Areas to which attention was to be directed were identified employing a model developed to explain the mechanism of accident. Prevention of simple falling down is particularly essential since 50 percent of accidents attributable to play equipments were of this type. This and other three types, i. e., rolling to fall, tumbling over, and colliding, counted for about 90 percent of all accidents attributable to play equipments. Preventive measures have to be directed to each of three basic factors and to cut their linkage: factors of users: play equipments and surrounding environments. User factor triggers accidents: play equipments and surrounding environment factors determine specific injuries. Preventive measures thus need to be focused on these factors.
