Dozens of recalled slides have been removed from playgrounds in Calgary after a safety recall by the U.S. manufacturer over amputation risks.

Pennsylvania-based Playworld Systems Inc. recalled its Lightning Slide stainless steel playground slide late last year, amid concerns over the risk of finger amputations.

The company said in an online recall notice in December 2016 that it’s “aware of 13 incidents of broken welds, including two children who have suffered finger amputations.”

“The weld between the slide bedway and sidewall can crack and separate,” the recall alert said. ““A child’s fingers can get caught in the space, posing an amputation risk.”

Health Canada released a recall alert in January that said 161 of the slides were sold in Canada, but there have been no reports of injuries in this country.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the affected slides were sold at “independent distributors to parks, schools and municipalities from November 2000 through October 2016 for between US$1,500 through $4,000.”

The majority of the affected slides in Canada were sold in Alberta.

Matthew Blair, the City of Calgary’s park infrastructure lead, told CTV Calgary on Wednesday that the local distributer for Playworld Systems began boarding up and removing the 55 Lightning Slides in city parks in January.

He said all of the recalled slides in city parks were gone by the end of April.

The Calgary Board of Education estimates they have about 20 of the affected slides. Another 25 slides are owned and operated by the Catholic School Board.

Blair said the removal process has not cost the city any money and the recall is being conducted at the expense of the manufacturer.

Playworld Systems sent temporary barriers to its buyers to install on the playgrounds so that children would be prevented from using the slides before they could be removed.

It’s not the first time Calgary has dealt with slide safety concerns. The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation was forced to close a south-facing slide at St. Patrick’s Island Park after children were scalded by hot metal.

That slide has been replaced with a cooler cement one that is expected to open soon.

Blair said he expects Playworld Systems to begin installing replacement slides next month at a pace of two to three per week. He said the city has more than 1,000 playgrounds with functioning slides that children can use in the interim.

“There may be a slide missing from the playground immediately around the corner, but there will be absolutely ones not too far away in the same community,” Blair said.

With a report from CTV Calgary’s Brad MacLeod