PARENTS yesterday handed a petition to the House of Representatives, demanding better legislation concerning child safety in recreational areas.

One thousand signatures have been gathered.

Parents have decided to act following a number of incidents where children have been injured.

In June nine youngsters were hurt when the inflatable slide they were playing on deflated, due to the failure of air pumps, at a playground in Latsia.

The incident has highlighted the gap in legislation regarding the protection of children in play areas, with the relevant authorities accused of only carrying out sporadic and inadequate checks.

At present, the only EU legislation regarding playgrounds which Cyprus complies with is maintenance of equipment and the monitoring of children.

Following the Latsia incident, a group of parents formed an action group, demanding that the issue be discussed by the House.

They are also calling for a new legislative framework to be established. This will increase the regularity of checks as well as the compulsory application of relevant EU standards.

In Cyprus, those responsible for child safety in recreational areas are the Labour Ministry and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation.

Commenting, member of the action group, Marina Maleni, said: "We have had enough and decided that something had to be done."

After some incidents in the past, the authorities blamed accidents on the children themselves.

In the case of the inflatable slide, supervisors said that the children were over-excited and that parents had failed to properly keep them in check.

Maleni said passing the buck onto the children was unacceptable.

"Playground safety is the responsibility of the owner of the establishment and not the child. Kids are only interested in playing and will not sit stationary for any length of time. Therefore it is vital to keep a close eye on them."

Also commenting was Law Commissioner Leda Koursoumba. She confirmed that there is a lack of proper legislation on the issue.

"The law is not focused on recreational areas but more on the workplace," she said. "We insist on comprehensive legislation which focuses on the child."