3.3 Tools to Identify Entanglement Hazards

Tools to identify entanglement hazards

Domain 1G tests the method, not a vocabulary list. CPSC 2025 §3.2 sends you to Appendix B for testing recommendations; F1487-21 supplies the matching performance tests; the NRPA Table of Dimensions, Rev 1/2024, is the dimensional crib sheet you will have in the exam room. Bring the gauges, use them in the order the test method describes, and write down which gauge failed at which coordinate. A narrative that says “possible entanglement on the slide” without a gauge, a station, and a citation is not an inspection finding.

The gauge kit (NRPA Table of Dimensions, Rev 1/2024)

These are the entanglement and projection tools Domain 1G expects you to select by name and size. Do not invent a fourth projection disc.

CPSC Appendix B.2.1 is the general protrusion test: successively place each of the three projection gauges over the projection and see whether the projection penetrates through the hole and beyond the face of the gauge. Pass = it does not extend beyond the face. Fail = it extends beyond the face of any one of the three gauges; that projection is a hazardous protrusion and should be eliminated. You run all three because a stud that clears the large disc can still fail the small disc. Domain 1I will dwell on protrusion theory; Domain 1G needs you to know that the same three gauges are the first filter for clothing-catch projections.

Special tests: swings and slides

Suspended members of swing assemblies get their own test (CPSC Appendix B.2.2, mirrored in F1487-21). CPSC says that given the potential for impact, projections on swings can be extremely hazardous. Hold the special swing/slide projection gauge vertically with the axis through the hole parallel to the swing’s path of travel, place it over any projection exposed during that path, and fail any bolt or component that extends through the hole beyond the face of the gauge. Test the seat hardware, the underside, and the lower suspending connections — the region a child or a passing child can impact. Do not substitute a casual glance or a single general disc for B.2.2.

Projections on slides (CPSC Appendix B.2.3 and §5.3.6.7) are the entanglement test that matches Domain 1F. To minimize clothing entanglement, a projection that (1) fits within any one of the three Figure B1 gauges and (2) has a major axis that projects away from the slide bed should not stand more than 1/8 in (0.12 in) perpendicular to the surrounding surface. The field sequence is:

1. Identify every projection in the shaded slide-path area shown in CPSC Figure B13 — the bedway the body travels, both sidewalls, and the platform-to-chute entrance. CPSC notes that B.2.3 is not the test for the underside of a circular chute; the underside returns to the general B.2.1 gauges.
2. Determine which projections fit inside the three projection gauges.
3. Place the swing-and-slide projection gauge (0.12 in face) next to the projection and see whether the projection extends beyond that face.
4. Fail any projection that extends beyond the face. CPSC §5.3.6.7 restates the same idea in handbook language: projections up to 3 in in diameter should not stick up more than 1/8 in from the slide, and there should be no gaps at the top of the chute.

Walk the slide as a child would travel. Sit or kneel at the platform, face the chute, and move the gauge down the bedway and along each sidewall to the exit region. Hardware that is harmless on the outside of a tube can be a hood-catch on the inside corner of the entrance hood. Gaps at the platform-to-chute joint are visual and tactile: if a drawstring-sized opening exists, you do not need a failed disc to write the §5.3.6.2 / §5.3.6.7 gap finding.

S-hooks, one-ended ropes, loops, and between-unit connectors

S-hook feeler. Insert a 0.04 in (1 mm) feeler — CPSC’s “about the thickness of a dime” check — into every opening of every S-hook and C-hook, seat-end and hanger-end. If the feeler passes, the hook is open. Pinch-closed or replace it. The completely filled in-fill exemption applies only when clothing cannot enter the interior at all. Test hooks in the at-rest position and, on swings, through the motion range if the opening changes.

One-ended rope, cable, or chain. Measure free length from the attachment point to the free end. Longer than 7 in fails (NRPA Table; CPSC §3.5). Cut, cap, or re-anchor so both ends are secured, unless the member is a swing seat suspender.

Loops. Measure inside perimeter, not diameter. A closed loop smaller than 5 in inside perimeter fails the NRPA Table. Also try to loop a flexible member back on itself or onto a neighbor; CPSC §3.5 fails a line that can form a circle with a 5 in or greater perimeter that way.

Non-rigid component between units. Measure height from the protective surfacing to the lowest part of the connector and measure the smallest cross-section. Fail if height is under 84 in or diameter is under 1 in, unless a more specific F1487 equipment section applies. CPSC §3.5 gives the same 7 ft / 1 in relief for certain suspended components.

Where to test, and what to write down

Test projections in the use zone (anything a falling or circulating child can hit), along slide paths, on swing seats and suspending members, and on any other moving or elevated component a hood or drawstring can reach. CPSC §3.2 also sends you to §5.3 for the extra swing and slide rules. User-tied jump ropes and leashes do not need a gauge: remove them and photograph the knot.

Document, at minimum:

• Equipment name and identifier, bay, and age group.
• Exact location (for example, “north slide, left sidewall, 18 in below the platform nosing” or “south belt swing, seat-end S-hook, east chain”).
• Tool used and result (“middle projection gauge: projection extended beyond the face”; “0.04 in feeler passed the S-hook opening”; “one-ended rope 11 in”; “vertical projection gauge 0.12 in failed on bedway rivet”).
• Cited criterion (CPSC Appendix B.2.1 / B.2.2 / B.2.3, §3.2, §5.3.6.7, §5.3.8.1, or the matching F1487-21 test).
• Priority (a clothing-catch on a slide or swinging member is Priority 1) and the interim control (bay bagged, chute blocked, rope cut down).

The owner still decides repair versus removal. Your job in Domain 1G is to prove, with a named gauge and a station, that the entanglement cause from 3.2 is present.