Mum Wants Metal Slides in Playgrounds Removed After Her Son Burns His Foot

A mother has called for the removal of metal slides from children’s playgrounds after her two-year-old son burned his foot on a metal slide last week.

Mum Kelly Tully, from Gold Coast, QLD took her son Xzavier to a new playground in Pimpama to explore the area late last week where he enjoyed splashing in the water and running around.

When Xzavier asked her if he could go on to play at the park’s long tunnel-style metal slide, she quickly went to the top and checked the temperature of the metal surface. It was about 10am and she said it felt okay to use so she allowed her son slip down it.

However, Ms Tully was horrified after Xzavier let out a scream as he got to the bottom of the slide and stood up and got burns on the sole of his foot. “I was at the top of the slide and I didn’t know whether to run down to him or go down the slide to get him,” Ms Tully told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Immediately, she climbed down and grabbed her son out of the hot slide and splashed water all over his feet. She then took him to a doctor to treat the burn.

Now that the injury is healing, Ms Tully is on a mission to make sure this can be prevented and no other child will be hurt in the same way by urging the removal of potentially dangerous metal slides from children’s playgrounds. Since Queensland is sunny, Ms Tully says metal slides on the Gold Coast should be changed. “We have a heatwave coming up and it’s only going to get hotter,” she said.

 She added that plastic can also heat up, but is unlikely to get as hot and dangerous as metal.

This comes a few days after another mum asked for better protection of metal slides in Adelaide.

A Gold Coast council spokeswoman explained that the slide was a tunnel-style which was meant to shield some of the sun and heat, but the complaint was being investigated.

However, Council Community Services Committee chairman Bob La Castra said metal slides were not common around the Coast and were being replaced as they became too old. “This comes down to the responsibility of the parent,” he said.

The council also do not plan to take any special measures in parks during the predicted heatwave but is encouraging people outdoors to be sun smart, seek shade and drink plenty of water.

Meanwhile, Mirvac Queensland the company which built the playground state they are not aware of any complaints about the equipment.

Source: Kidspot.com.au