Playground Equipment Conditions
Case reference FOI2026/00794
Received 14 April 2026
Published 12 May 2026
Request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please provide the following information for the period 1 January 2020 to present:
1. Inspections and maintenance
* The total number of playground inspections carried out per year.
* Copies of any inspection guidance, checklists, or policies used, particularly those referencing:
* corrosion
* rust
* metal degradation
2. Recorded defects
* The number of recorded maintenance issues or defects relating to playground equipment, broken down by year.
* Where available, the number of defects specifically categorised as:
* corrosion
* rust
* structural degradation of metal components
(If defects are not categorised in this way, please provide any relevant keyword-searchable records or closest equivalent classification.)
3. Complaints from the public
* The number of complaints received relating to playground equipment described as:
* rusty
* corroded
* damaged or unsafe
4. Incidents and injuries
* The number of reported incidents or accidents in council-managed playgrounds, per year.
* If recorded, the number of incidents where equipment condition (e.g. damage, corrosion, or wear) was noted as a contributing factor.
5. Maintenance response
* Any policies or service standards relating to:
* repair timeframes for damaged or corroded equipment.
* criteria for removing unsafe equipment from use.
Response
Please find the answers to your queries below:
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please provide the following information for the period 1 January 2020 to present:
1. Inspections and maintenance
* The total number of playground inspections carried out per year.
Please find this information attached.
* Copies of any inspection guidance, checklists, or policies used, particularly those referencing:
* corrosion
* rust
* metal degradation
The guidance and checklists are embedded within our Asset Management app, which is run by a third-party provider (Public Sector Software Ltd), and are accessed via individual pages stored within the app as and when appropriate. This is in order to make the process of finding the pertinent information more efficient, in comparison to having to scroll through a 200+ page PDF document.
As such we do not have a single document that we are able to share. Furthermore, due to the nature of the way this information is stored within the app the only way to provide this data would be to take a screenshot of each and every page of available guidance and then convert each individual screenshot into a PDF document. As this includes hundreds of pages of guidance we are therefore unable to respond to this part of your request, because it would take us over 18 hours to obtain this data, which would place a substantial and possibly unreasonable burden on resource and your request is therefore exempt under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act (where the cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit).
2. Recorded defects
* The number of recorded maintenance issues or defects relating to playground equipment, broken down by year.
Please find this information attached.
* Where available, the number of defects specifically categorised as:
* corrosion
* rust
* structural degradation of metal components
(If defects are not categorised in this way, please provide any relevant keyword-searchable records or closest equivalent classification.)
Please find this information attached.
3. Complaints from the public
* The number of complaints received relating to playground equipment described as:
* rusty
* corroded
* damaged or unsafe
Six complaints received from 1st January 2020 to 12th May 2026 relating to playground equipment described as rusty, corroded, damaged or unsafe, broken down as follows:
2020 – 0 complaints related to the above.
2021 – 1 complaint related to the above.
2022 – 1 complaint related to the above.
2023 – 0 complaints related to the above.
2024 – 3 complaints related to the above.
2025 – 2 complaints related to the above.
2026 (1st January to 12th May 2026) – no complaints received so far this year related to the above.
4. Incidents and injuries
* The number of reported incidents or accidents in council-managed playgrounds, per year.
2020 – 0 incidents or accidents reported.
2021 – 2 incidents or accidents reported.
2022 – 0 incidents or accidents reported.
2023 – 1 incidents or accidents reported.
2024 – 4 incidents or accidents reported.
2025 – 2 incidents or accidents reported.
2026 (1st January to 12th May 2026) – 0 incidents or accidents reported in the year to date.
* If recorded, the number of incidents where equipment condition (e.g. damage, corrosion, or wear) was noted as a contributing factor.
2020 – N/A.
2021 – 1.
2022 – N/A.
2023 – 1, as a result of vandalism which was reported to the police by Guildford Borough Council.
2024 – 3.
2025 – 0.
2026 – N/A.
5. Maintenance response
* Any policies or service standards relating to:
* repair timeframes for damaged or corroded equipment.
* criteria for removing unsafe equipment from use.
Routine visual inspections are carried out at least once a week at all of our playground sites across the borough. Additionally, more in-depth inspections are also carried out once every quarter and we also arrange for independent inspections to be carried out annually. The Council’s insurance company also arranges six monthly inspections of all playground sites as part of the insurance policy. All inspections are carried out by trained professionals and are compliant to EN1176, part 7.
There are several different types of inspection that we regularly undertake:
Routine Visual Inspections – Inspection frequencies range from; Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly to Bi-monthly. The frequencies vary due to the type of equipment, use of site etc. This type of inspection looks at equipment and site features basic condition, as it is visual based it does not necessarily mean the equipment/item is moved/touched. Its purpose is to spot anything that is obviously wrong, broken, missing.
Operational Inspections – Quarterly. This inspection is far more detailed and is more hands on with equipment/items looking for defects, wear, rotting materials etc.
Annual Inspections – A thorough detailed inspection undertaken by an operator not connected with the general playground inspection and maintenance contractor.
The length of time inspecting a playground, site, item or feature varies considerably due to the type of equipment, surfacing and other features, there is no set time assigned to a site. The inspections will pick up both on preventative works and reactionary works. All inspections and findings are recorded on an electronic system called PSS live, from this system, tasks are assigned dependent on the findings to fix, repair or replace items of playground equipment or site features.
Despite all the inspections we undertaken, there will always be issues being picked up outside of the times, the playgrounds are subject to continual wear and tear from daily use, mis-use and vandalism, there are also exposed to the elements and ground conditions which also place a burden on the structural integrity of equipment and features. Therefore, ad-hoc inspections are also carried out as and when any damage or incidents are reported to us.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Guildford Borough Council
Documents
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