Maintenance of play equipment in a public square

Abstract

This article presents the jacaré (alligator) one piece of play equipments created by the Centros de Bairro Program, which was responsible for the construction of approximately 50 public squares in the city of São Paulo between the years of 2002 and 2004. The entire complex of play equipments was presented and analyzed in the Master’s Degree Thesis, “Maintenance of Squares in the City of Sao Paulo. Case Study: Play Equipment of Centros de Bairro Program” according to methodology applied to other square components as well as to the square itself. This methodology is expected to be employed as an instrument for planning maintenance of squares and urban equipments in general. The article presents information on the play equipment design (in the same fashion it would be on a use, operation, and maintenance reference manual). This information was gathered through the persons in charge of the program, interviews with the play equipment manufacturer, and drawings and documents produced for the purchase and production of the equipments. Also information that was collected through field inspections and estimated costs of preventive maintenance is presented in this article. In face of replacement costs of new play equipment, maintenance costs prove us the economic importance of such actions.