Is Your Community Safe for Children?

With warm weather finally here, the number of children playing outside will increase dramatically in the coming weeks. This can cause a number of issues in condominium communities – ranging from noise complaints from residents, as well as an increased incident of accidents; everything from the usual cuts and scrapes to more serious issues that can occur in parking lots and swimming pools.

A rising demographic, families with small children are renting more frequently, making it imperative that safety issues be addressed at your property. Schedule a time to walk the property and check for anything that curious minds may want to explore. Here are some good places to start to determine just how safe your  community is for your smallest residents:

• Examine the grounds carefully for anything that can be potentially dangerous for small children and remove or repair them. This can include fallen tree branches, loose tree limbs, and gopher holes.
• Make sure you have posted speed limits throughout the property. Remember that not all children will be property supervised – even if they should be. That’s why it’s important to have posted speed limits within the property. The addition of speed bumps can also effectively deter speeding residents, and possibly prevent a tragic accident as well.
• Check and double check pool access. It’s imperative that the pool area remain secure and inaccessible to small children. This means having the proper locks and fencing around the area. Children are curious, and a sparkling pool can be enticing on a hot summer day.
• If you don’t have a dedicated playground area, you may want to consider creating one. A dedicated playground facility will help your property attract families with small children; typically a very stable group of renters. It will also reduce the amount of noise around the community. No one can fault children for wanting to play outside in warm weather, but the fact is that the noise level can become a nuisance to other residences.
• If you do create a dedicated playground area for children, or already have one, make sure that there are posted rules for children visible in the playground area. In addition, if your playground is for very small children, they should always be accompanied by an adult when playing.

While it may be a bit more work up front, preventing accidents by creating a safe play zone for children should be a priority for all property managers and management companies.