Playground Equipment Inspection Record

Who this is for

One line for every piece of equipment in the playground. Each gets a condition mark, a description of any defect, the action taken and a tick if it has been taken out of use, and the summary counts the items in poor condition and the ones closed off.

Parish and town councils, school caretakers, nursery and holiday park staff, community groups and anyone who looks after swings, slides, climbing frames and the surfacing under them.

What this helps you track

• Every item of equipment on the site, with its own reference
• The condition each item was in on the day, in the inspector's own judgement
• Which items were closed off and therefore need following up
• What was found, what was done and who to ask about it

How to use it

1. Give every item a reference and keep it the same from one round to the next.
2. Walk the site and mark the condition of each item, including the surfacing beneath it.
3. Describe the defect properly — the part, the fault and where on the item it is.
4. Tick closed for anything taped off or taken out of use, and say in the action how it was made safe.
5. Write who the defect was reported to, so the trail does not stop at the sheet.
6. Sign the record, then keep the round on file and compare it with the next one.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What condition words should I use?

Good, fair or poor, as you judge them, with N/A for anything not inspected. The sheet supplies no scoring scale and no thresholds; the words are there so that a run of rounds reads consistently.

Does this cover the surfacing as well as the equipment?

Yes, if you give it lines of its own. Many inspectors add a line per bay or surface area so that grass wear, loose fill depth and worn matting get the same treatment as the equipment itself.

Who should carry out the inspection?

Whoever your organisation says, under the rules and any scheme you belong to. The record simply captures who walked it and when, which is what people ask for after something goes wrong.

Can it be used for a single item, like one trampoline or goal?

Yes. There is nothing in it that needs a whole playground; one line and a signature is a valid record.