Playground toxins
Reduce your family's exposure

Putting Distance Between Children and CCA-Treated Wood

If CCA-treated wood structures aren’t removed entirely from playgrounds, there are at least several measures that can be taken to reduce risks of exposure to the arsenic in that wood. Here are just a few things that you can keep in mind while at parks and playgrounds, and which you can pass along to school officials:

● Do not eat directly on tables treated with arsenic—cover such tables with a tablecloth, preferably one that is coated to be non-permeable

● If children must be in contact with arsenic-treated wood, make sure they wash their hands afterward, particularly before eating.

● Ensure that during construction projects, children are not exposed to arsenic-treated wood or its dust.

● Wooden structures, especially ones known to be arsenic-treated, should be sealed with a double coat of nontoxic, nonslippery wood sealant, such as an oil-based stain. This should be done at least every two years, but preferably every year.

● If sealed pressure-treated wood had cracks that expose the interior of the wood, those affected surfaces should be treated immediately with a double coat of wood sealant.

● Make sure schools and playgrounds don’t have pressure-treated wood with signs of crystallization or resin on its exterior.

● Preferably, play equipment and other outdoor structures should be make of products that are not pressure-treated, such as redwood, cedar, painted metal or recycled plastic.

Also, you can simply make sure to take your children to parks and playgrounds where the tables and play equipment are made of plastic, painted metal, or wood that isn’t pressure-treated.

At your local schools, if tables are made of pressure-treated wood, you can teach your kids to make sure they either don’t eat at such tables, or that they use caution when doing so.