In light of a tragic incident in which a Windsor girl suffered severe brain injuries after tripping over a wire onto a broken golf club while running on a track last week, the City of Mississauga assures the public that protocol is in place to prevent a similar incident from happening close to home.

Fourteen-year-old Madison Arsenault was reportedly injured by equipment that was used as a guide for crews painting white lines on the grass.

While taking part in a Grade 8 gym class, Arsenault tripped on a low-lying wire, which was acting as the guide for a painting crew, impaling herself on the blunt edge of a golf club being used to hold the wire in place, Arsenault’s lawyer, Jennifer Bezaire, told The Canadian Press.

“I’ve talked to some of my staff who are more into sports and they have never heard of anyone being injured like this,” said City of Mississauga parks manager Gavin Longmuir.

“They’re kind of shocked at what happened. We don’t know all the facts in Windsor … There’s still a lot of questions, but I haven’t heard of anything (like it).”

While investigation into the Windsor incident continues, initial reports said the golf clubs that were hammered into the ground appeared to be unattended.

Longmuir assures users of Mississauga fields that the lining equipment used by city crews isn’t similar to what was used in this case, noting they use a combination of pegs and heavy duty nylon string that Longmuir says is more visible than wire.

As well, the pegs are hammered into the ground to the point where they’re flush with the grass or below the grass.

The guides would only remain in place during the time it takes to complete the lines, which Longmuir says could be up to three hours for a standard-sized soccer pitch.

“We do all types of maintenance, as you can imagine, especially over the summer months, even for fields that aren’t being played on” Longmuir said. “But you have kids running all over the place, (so) having staff onsite is critical to make sure with whatever maintenance we’re doing, the public is staying well back.”