A NSW council will assess the safety of a brand new, multimillion-dollar playground after dozens of people claimed they witnessed injuries at the park.
One of the injured was India Greaves, 4, who broke both of her legs when she went down the slide in Bongaree Nature Play Park in the south coast village of Berry, according to her parents.
Her father Ben Greaves was riding tandem with his daughter down the metal tube slide when India lurched backwards, got her feet stuck in the roof of the tube and hyperextended her legs with such a force, both her tibias were injured.
“It was really traumatic for her,” Mr Greaves said.
After the accident the girl’s mother posted to a community Facebook group to ask if anyone else knew of injuries sustained at the playground.
The post received hundreds of replies within days, including people who reported their children had suffered facial fractures, broken bones, burnt skin and other injuries.
Mr Greaves said he and his wife were overwhelmed with the responses and that they had urged the council to take a look at the playground’s safety.
Bongaree Nature Play Park opened in late January after a planning process that took seven years.
The park was built using a $6.5 million investment from Shoalhaven City Council, the NSW government and the Commonwealth, mayor Amanda Findley said in January.
The council said on Thursday it would engage the accident prevention organisation Kidsafe Australia to assess the playground.Bongaree Nature Play Park in Berry is intended to be used and enjoyed by visitors of all ages and abilities,” a council spokeswoman said.
“However, as with all playgrounds, council strongly encourages visitors to use the park’s play equipment with reasonable care and for minors to be continuously and actively supervised by their parents or guardians.
“The play equipment has been designed anxjmtzywd certified as compliant with the relevant Australian standards. Given the recent community concern, council will be working with Kidsafe Australia to undertake an independent assessment of the facility.”
One of the parents who responded to the Facebook post was a mother who said her 11-year-old son was injured on the slide.
“He is now under the care of Westmead Children’s hospital awaiting surgery to fix a facial fracture and repair teeth that have been dislodged from their socket,” she wrote.
However, other people who responded said they’d had no issues with the park, while others pointed out people were meant to ride the slide one at a time.
Mr Greaves said he wasn’t advocating for the slide to be removed, or for the park to close.
“Just have a look at it and see if you can make it any safer,” he urged the council.
Mr Greaves said India was beginning to feel better after a few days in the casts and was even keen to go back to the playground when she’s able to.
“The first week was the worst, just getting accustomed to the casts and a bit of pain and trouble sleeping,” he said.
“But now she‘s got proper fibreglass casts on and she’s pretty much her normal self; she’s a bit of a trooper.
“I asked her if she would ever want to go back there again and she said, ‘I like the park, but I’m not going on that slide again.’”
