The Pennsylvania-based playground equipment company Playworld Systems Inc., has issued a recall of its line of stainless steel Lightning Slides. The welds that held the slide bed to its walls were susceptible to cracking, the company said, leaving a sharp and dangerous gap.

Of 1,300 Lightning Slides installed on playgrounds, Playworld was aware of 13 broken slides. The separated welds were dangerous, creating a hazard that could catch appendages. The damaged slides amputated the fingers of two children, according to the recall.

An announcement on the equipment company’s website read, “The recalled slides are made of stainless steel and have both single and double bedways. There are welds on both sides of the slide attaching the bedway to the sidewalls, and the welds run continuously from the top to the bottom. There are no identifying marks on the slides.” The company voluntarily conducted the recall via the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Dec. 7.

From 2000 until this October, independent distributors sold the slides to playgrounds at city parks and schools at sums of $1,500 to $4,000. NBC 5 reported that Playworld will replace the slides for free.

A study the Consumer Product Safety Commission conducted in 2001 estimated that playgrounds sent 200,000 children 14 and younger to emergency rooms each year. The large majority of wounds are nonfatal, but injuries may include amputations, dislocations and concussions. During the decade between 1990 and 2000, less than 150 children died on playgrounds; seven in 10 of these deaths occurred at home playgrounds, the report determined.

Playground visitors should stop using the slides immediately, Playworld said in the recall alert. The company can be contacted at (800) 223-8404, via email or through its website.