INJURED: Alma Zanardi with daughter, Bianca Morris, who received nasty head injuries after she was hit in the head by a newly installed swing at Singleton’s Allan Bull Reserve.
THE new rotary swing at Singleton’s Allan Bull Reserve is a potential death trap, according to parent Nigel Fuller whose stepdaughter, Bianca Morris was left injured by it on Tuesday afternoon.
Bianca, 14, had her two front teeth knocked out and suffered a gash to her forehead which required stitches leaving her parents with a hefty medical bill.
The incident happened at 5pm when the park was busy and full of children. Bianca fell off the swing which continued to swing around at a fast pace with the other children still riding it. As Bianca got to her feet the swing smacked her in the face.
Mr Fuller is concerned other children will get hurt.
He says many young children are using the swing without really understanding its dynamics.
Mr Fuller said at the very least there should be padding and a fence around the swing to stop future accidents, but ideally he wanted it removed.
Singleton Council’s acting assets and facilities director Alan Fletcher said that he was very sorry that the girl was hurt by the swing but added that the swing had met Australian standards which prioritized safety, and it wouldn’t be closed or removed.
“It’s the nature of play there’s a lot of movement and accidents happen, if we had an injury on the skate park we wouldn’t close it down because there’s a risk involved and it is well maintained,” Mr Fletcher said.
When it came to younger children using the swing Mr Fletcher said that parents did have some responsibility to watch them.
“If there was a fence in place the children would find a way to get around it,” he said.
The rotary swing known as a ‘Sky Surf’ has been open to the public for three weeks.