Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) staff have taken additional safety precautions at a Whistler Village playground following a visitor’s complaint.
Whistler council on Tuesday received a letter from New Westminster resident Ivana Ilic, who wrote to express her concern regarding features of the Whistler Olympic Plaza playground that she said could “potentially cause serious to fatal injuries” to children that “can easily be preventable.”
Ilic was visiting the playground with her family on July 6 when her almost seven–year-old son ran into the corner of the play structure, “cutting his head open.” Ilic said she brought her son into nearby Blenz, where staff provided them with towels and ice and directed them to the Whistler Health Care Centre’s emergency room.
According to the letter, medical staff glued her son’s wound closed and sent the family home with instructions to monitor him for possible signs of a concussion.
Ilic said the corner isn’t an issue for children who are taller or shorter than the structure, but because the corner is situated just above her son’s eye level, he couldn't see it under the brim of the baseball cap he was wearing at the time of his injury.
“All of this could be preventable if some hard rubber was installed all around those beams, and especially on that corner,” she wrote. “I’m writing to you to call you to action[sic] on this and prevent any further injuries or possible fatalities on the playground. The level of stress that we all went through today is unmeasurable.[sic]”
General manager of resort experience Jessie Gresley-Jones told council that RMOW staff investigated the concerns immediately after receiving the correspondence. He said staff added reflective tape to the area of concern and ground down some of the playground’s sharp edges.
