What are Michigan’s Laws for Playground Maintenance?

Playgrounds are supposed to be fun places for children to spend time. But even under the best of circumstances, it’s very easy for kids to get injured on a playground by doing simple things like falling down while running around. But when playgrounds aren’t being well maintained and repairs aren’t being made, a fun afternoon at the park can easily end with a trip to the emergency room.

When people visit playgrounds, they often don’t think about who is responsible for taking care of the equipment. So if a child is injured on a playground, what are the laws regarding playground maintenance?

Michigan Playground Maintenance Laws

Michigan has a statute known as the Playground Equipment Safety Act. The act intends to protect children using playgrounds. The Playground Equipment Safety Act imposes liability on the playground’s operator. The person responsible for the playground’s upkeep is liable when their park is negligently built or maintained:

408.686 Public playground equipment; responsibility for maintenance, repair, and upkeep.

Sec. 6. (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2), the local unit of government, school district, or governmental entity that owns and operates the public playground equipment shall be responsible for the maintenance, repair, and upkeep of the public playground equipment according to the standards identified by this act.

• Schools
• Governments
• Private park owners

Get Help from a Michigan Personal Injury Lawyer

If your child was injured on a poorly maintained playground, it’s very important to get help from a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. When you’re facing the prospect of making a legal claim against entities like schools or governments, there might be special requirements that apply to your case. Filing a lawsuit against a government organization can be very different from filing a lawsuit over something like a car accident or a dog bite.

Goodwin & Scieszka has handled Michigan personal injury claims for over 30 years. If your child has been injured because a playground was negligently built, then contact our firm immediately.

You may be entitled to a settlement or financial compensation. Let us help you through this dark time in your child’s or loved one’s life, because as parents ourselves we know how tragic injuries to children can be for the entire family. Our Michigan attorneys have the experience to handle playground injury cases, and will fight for you to get the justice you deserve. There is no charge or legal fees for our lawyers to investigate childhood injuries unless and until we win money for you. Remember, at Goodwin & Scieszka our lawyers fight for you.