A playground slide northeast of Adelaide reaches unsafe temperatures of up to 73.6 degrees on hot days \u2013 a high enough temperature to burn skin. <\/p>\n
A study by Tea Tree Gully Council, published late last month, compared the temperatures of slides across the council\u2019s playgrounds on a 33-degree day.<\/p>\n
It found the blue plastic slide at Modbury\u2019s Civic Park was the hottest, reaching a top of 73.6 degrees in full sun at 3.30pm, despite the presence of shade sails. <\/p>\n
The high temperature was blamed on an inconveniently positioned gap between the shade sails.<\/p>\n
The playground\u2019s red plastic slide was found to reach 66.3 degrees and its green plastic slide reached 64.2 degrees.<\/p>\n
The rubber softfall reached a whopping 80.7 degrees at 12.45pm the same day.<\/p>\n
A metal slide at Kaplan Reserve, St Agnes, which sparked resident concerns, reached a comparably cooler 40.5 degrees.<\/p>\n
However, the council report noted stainless steel slides \u201ccan feel much hotter than plastic\u201d, even at the same temperature, because of higher levels of thermal conductivity. <\/p>\n
A 2021 University of Western Sydney study found five seconds of skin contact with a 74-degree plastic slide would result in a burn.<\/p>\n
Touching an uncoated metal slide for five seconds, on the other hand, would result in a burn at just 57 degrees. <\/p>\n
Jim Papazoglov, 68, who took his two-year-old grandson Lucas to Civic Park on Thursday, said he was not concerned by hot slides.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you bring your grandchild or your child to a playground and the kid touches it, and it\u2019s hot to the touch, you\u2019re not going to go down the slide, are you?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, we have got a brain. We\u2019re not brain dead yet, are we?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Papazoglov, a former Port Lincoln councillor, said efforts by the council to study and reduce slide temperatures sounded like \u201cbureaucracy at work\u201d.<\/p>\n
A Tea Tree Gully spokeswoman said a playground tree-planting program was being developed, prioritising the council area\u2019s hottest playgrounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther ways to reduce heat in and around new playspaces include locating equipment in the shade of established trees, the use of lighter-coloured materials that absorb less heat and irrigated turf,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith around 120 playgrounds across the City of Tea Tree Gully, any future improvements would need to be delivered over a number of years.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegarding Civic Park, there are five slides to choose from, with a number always available in the shade as the sun moves throughout the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alannah Ween, 42, who was wrangling her four-year-old twins at the park on Thursday, said she avoided parks without shade sails. <\/p>\n
\u201cOtherwise it can get quite hot for the kids,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of them do the metal (slides), and that\u2019s not good at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A playground slide northeast of Adelaide reaches unsafe temperatures of up to 73.6 degrees on hot days 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