This seems like common sense, but the reality is that if you leave wood outside, pests are going to munch on it. Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) should not be used in wooden playground structures, but you cannot always get around it. If you do have this substance in your wooden structure, it needs to be sealed pursuant to California’s Health & Safety Code Section 115775.
Make sure that you do a regular preventive maintenance re-application of the sealant anytime it starts to wear off. The State only requires that you retreat every two years, but weather conditions in California may necessitate a more frequent application.
H&S 115775. (a) No state funds shall be used by any state agency,
onsite employee child care center for state employees, city, county,
city and county, district, superintendent of schools, school
district, or community college district to purchase wooden playground
or recreational equipment where there is a likelihood of contact by
children and when the equipment has been treated with any of the
following substances:
(1) Pentachlorophenol.
(2) Creosote.
(3) Arsenic, elemental arsenic, or arsenic copper combination,
unless the wood is treated with a nontoxic and nonslippery sealer and
the seller certifies that the wood is treated in accordance with
commodity standard C-17 for playground equipment as adopted by the
American Wood-Preservers Association.
(b) The state or any city, county, city and county, district,
superintendent of schools, school district, community college
district, or onsite employee child care center for state employees
that receives education or parks and recreation funds from the state
shall not use any portion of these funds for the maintenance or
upkeep of any wooden structures treated with any of the substances
that are prohibited from purchase pursuant to subdivision (a) and
where there is a likelihood of contact by children, unless the state,
city, county, city and county, superintendent of schools, school
district, district, community college district, or onsite employee
child care center for state employees treats the wooden structures
with nontoxic and nonslippery sealers and reseals the treated
structure in accordance with subdivision (c).
(c) The installer of any wooden playground or recreational
equipment that will be available for public use and that has been
treated with a substance listed in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a)
shall seal the structures with a nontoxic and nonslippery sealant
prior to, or at the time of, the installation of the equipment.
After the equipment that is available for public use has been sealed
pursuant to this subdivision, the owner of the equipment shall reseal
the treated equipment every two years thereafter with a nontoxic and
nonslippery sealant.