By Bonny Burrows
A toddler has narrowly avoided injury after sitting on broken glass melted into a Pakenham playground’s play equipment.
Brooke Ferroni’s two-year old son Hunter was playing at the John Street Park on 8 February when he complanied of a sore knee.
‘I gathered it was just from him climbing up on the gym equipment … but then he said his knee hurt again,” Ms Ferroni said.
Ms Ferroni said she was shocked to find a strange residue of “concrete with shards of glass through it” on the equipment.
“I was utterly shocked. I couldn’t believe what I saw and that I had let him climb onto that,” Ms Ferroni said.
“Thankfully he was not hurt; only a light graze on his knee. Not deep or enough to make it bleed, but I’m so grateful he had a nappy on or it probably would have cut or grazed his bottom.”
Ms Ferroni said she tried to call Cardinia Shire Council to report the hazard as soon as she got home from the park, but was put on a waiting queue.
Heavily pregnant and with a tired toddler, Ms Ferroni decided to put her son to bed and lodge a complaint through council’s website and a phone app ‘Snap, Send, Solve’ which reports incidents to relevant bodies.
Ms Ferroni had not been contacted by council as of 24 February but council assured The Gazette it had removed the glass on the day of the incident.
“Our Operations team acted immediately on receiving the report, with an officer assessing the site and our Maintenance team removed the glass the same day,” Cardinia Shire Council manager of Operations Charles Taveira said.
“Playground and exercise equipment are assessed monthly and hazards posing a public safety risk, such as in this report, are acted on immediately.
“Council encourages park visitors with information about potential safety hazards or damage to play or exercise equipment to contact council on 1300 787 624.”
The event has left the Pakenham mother wary of potential playground hazards.
“This is the first time I have come across something in a child’s playground that is potentially harmful,” she said.
“It’s made me a lot more cautious about being the first ones to go to a playground in the morning, as we normally always go once we have done school drop off.
“I definitely would like to warn other parents if they are the first ones there to always inspect the equipment before letting their precious ones play.”
