Expert Witness Blog

Strategies To Lower The Chance Of Injuries In Sports

It’s Spring, and that usually means an increase in sports activities. Whether it’s your team or your child’s team, safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Space, not the Star Trek kind, but those clear unobstructed areas between the boundary lines and walls, hills and spectators lowers the chance of injury. Whether you call these safety zones or buffer zones, they are a risk management procedure often neglected. We need to remember, players do not always stay inside the boundary lines.

Rulebooks and manuals suggest buffer zone areas of various sizes. A buffer zone of at least six feet to separate courts is suggested. Others suggest 30 feet of space outside of all field boundary lines. The 1998 high school rulebook still suggests a minimum of 3 feet and preferably 10 feet outside the court.

How much buffer space should you have to lower the chance of running into things? As much as possible  – and at least the minimum suggested for the sport you are playing. If you don’t have adequate space outside the playing area, adjust the situation. That might mean padding the potential hazard, adjusting the playing field and/or number of participants.

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