Category: Playground Safety Surfacing

The right playground surfacing will depend on many factors such as budget, overall playground usage, site conditions and much more. We’ll provide plenty of information about the pros and cons of each type of playground surface, as well as information on choosing the right surfacing for your needs and budget.

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Playground Planning Playground Safety Surfacing

The Comprehensive Playground Surfacing Guide

Wooden mulch of playground surfacing

Playground surfacing is often the last thing people consider when clients describe their playground concept; in fact, many customers have not considered playground surfacing at all. However, choosing a surfacing is one of the most important decisions you will make during the planning and design process. There are two basic types of surfacing: loose fill and unitary surfacing. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages. Understanding how they installation and what sort of maintenance they require are fundamental to making an informed purchase.

Playground Surfacing Basics

All playground surfacing is designed to provide a stable play surface and prevent injury by absorbing impact from falls. The ability of a surfacing to absorb force is called impact attenuation. There are tests designed to measure impact attenuation of surfacing and as certain types of surfaces age. They may need to replacing after years of use and exposure to weather. The higher children can climb on equipment, the more shock absorbing the surfacing surrounding it must be. For this reason there may be several different depths of surfacing throughout a given playground.

Loose Fill Surfacing

Loose fill playground surfacing absorbs impacts like packaging peanuts and requires some excavation beneath the playground to create an adequate depth to absorb impact. Redistribute loose fill surfacing from time to time as it scatters away from equipment when children play. Replenished natural products yearly to compensate for natural degrading.

Engineered Wood Fiber

Wooden mulch playground surfacing
Engineered wood fiber surfacing.

Unlike landscaping mulch, engineered wood fiber (EWF) mulch is made from natural wood. However, it’s not the same as mulch you use to prevent weeds in your home garden. EWF must meet certain size standards and is subject to a special milling process. This process causes the fibers interlock to form a relatively firm and smooth surface after use. Unlike garden mulch EWF isn’t treated with anything that may be harmful to children and will only experience minimal splintering.

Rubber Mulch

Blue rubber mulch playground surfacing
Blue rubber mulch playground surfacing.

Rubber mulch works much like EWF but is more durable. Unlike earlier incarnations of this product, rubber mulch now features a coating to prevent color transfer and is free from wires and metal remnants. Overall, rubber mulch works much like its wood counterpart; individual pieces lock together and form a stable walking surface. Unlike EWF, which naturally degrades over time, rubber mulch will last almost indefinitely. Moreover, it should stay in the playground area thanks to its design which prevents it from floating or blowing away.

All loose fill playground surfacing is mobile in nature and must be contained into your play area using existing barriers, such as sidewalks or specially installed playground borders. Over time, even well protected loose fill options may wash away and need to be replenished.

Helpful Hint: Manufacturers place stickers indicating the minimum fill depth of loose fill surfacing onto playground equipment. Playground borders often have a fill to line stamped onto the inside rim.  If you can see the fill to line, you don’t have enough surfacing due to compaction, decomposition or washing away.

BYO does not recommend, sell or install pea gravel, wood bark or sand as a playground surface. These surfaces do not provide adequate shock absorption or protection from falls. Additionally, sand is not ADA compliant, regardless of the equipment installed there.

Unitary Surfacing

Unitary playground surfacing comes in three basic styles, rubber tiles, playground turf and poured in place surfacing. These surfacing options have the highest upfront cost but are more durable, have lower freight costs and higher impact absorbency. Whereas loose fill surfacing is out of the way in impact zones, like the bottom of slides and directly beneath swings, unitary surfacing slowly wears in these areas and may very rarely require patching or replacement. The regular use of impact mats in these areas will virtually eliminate this problem. After several years of use it may be advisable to have an impact absorption test on your playground by a certified playground safety inspector.

Rubber Tiles

Interlocking rubber tiles
Interlocking rubber tile surfacing.

The use of Rubber tiles have changed a lot since their introduction. Contemporary tiles lock together to form a smooth surface over top yet more rubber impact surfaces. Thanks to new technology, today’s tiles don’t bend or split like earlier editions and are extremely durable. Like other rubber products, tiles come in a variety of colors that form a combination of fun patterns. If you plan to move your playground at a later date or relocate facilities entirely, rubber tiles are a wonderful option. You can easily install, remove, and relocated rubber tiles without compromising safety.

Poured-In-Place

Custom poured-in-place surfacing
Custom poured-in-place surfacing.

Poured- in-place surfacing is poured and troweled into place in a process similar to laying concrete. Poured-in-place surfacing is available in virtually any design or pattern you can imagine. Customizations adds play value through creative, imaginative patterns or built in hopscotch or 4 square courts. It also has the highest impact absorbency and is simple to repair should it become damaged.

Playground Turf

Artificial turf
Artificial turf surfacing.

Playground turf, is probably the most unique and most attractive surfacing option on the market today. Turf handles impacts every bit as well as poured in place at a comparable cost per square foot. It’s also lighter in weight than any other option, greatly reducing shipping costs. Additionally, repairs are simple should it be damaged by misuse or vandalism. There are several versions of turf on the market for use in playgrounds and many are antibacterial and antimicrobial.

Compare Your Options for Playground Surfacing

Determining which type of surfacing is best for your playground is a very personal decision. Due to their mobile nature, loose fill surfaces, despite their relatively low upfront cost, will have to be ‘topped off’ periodically. Over the years the maintenance cost of loose fill surfaces, as well as the commitment to regularly redistribute mulch is an important factor that eliminates this option for many locations.

Unitary surfacing may be the only option when installing a playground at an indoor facility or over an existing concrete or asphalt pad. Although the installation and material costs may be higher at first, the yearly maintenance costs are relatively nonexistent unless the playground is subject to vandalism or some sort of extraordinary circumstance. 

The shipping cost of unitary surfacing is also more fixed in general whereas EWF in particular may be impacted by local ordinances and the greater weight of loose fill surfacing may raise costs even higher than unitary surfacing if your location is a considerable distance from a supplier. It is often best to consider several types of surfacing fitted to your location and playground before making a decision.

→ FOR MORE DETAILS ON SURFACING CHECK OUT OUR FREE PLAYGROUND SURFACING GUIDE HERE!

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Playground Safety Surfacing

Is Artificial Turf Safe for Playgrounds?

A completed playground project using artificial turf

Artificial turf was first created by David Chaney and his team of researchers at the North Carolina State University in 1960 for baseball fields. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that artificial turf became the top pick of surface material used in sport stadiums and fields across the USA and Canada.

Artificial Turf Many Uses

Artificial Turf allows traditional outdoor sports to be moved indoors, such as football, baseball, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, and tennis. Soon after its creation, artificial grass was even used at ski and snowboard resorts and European clubs to create a feeling of warm and sunny conditions.

Additionally, airports began using the surfacing because it provided a reliable pathway for emergency vehicles and planes that veer off the runway. Neighborhoods, schools, and places of business began laying artificial grass on its grounds to reduce the amount of insects and animals that are normally attracted to grass. These places also wanted a pleasing view of always-green grass.

So What Exactly is Artificial Turf?

A close-up example of artificial playground turf.
Close-up of playground turf.

To start, artificial grass is a unique blend of polyethylene monofilament fibers and thatch layer that simulates a fine fescue grass or blue grass. This combination of fibers gives the turf its very soft, rich carpet like feel. Turf products are installed using a shock absorption and drainage pad for a long-lasting healthy environment.

Furthermore, turf has become the perfect supplement to real grass around the world for sports, recreation, businesses and even schools. This material provides benefits for places with harsh weather conditions, places with unwanted pests, and even places that just want a low-maintenance yard.

Artificial Turf Benefits

Some advantages of installing artificial turf are as follows:

  • It’s weather friendly. This is a wonderful supplement for hot environments or places that don’t get a sufficient amount of sunlight. Grass has a difficult time surviving in those conditions, but artificial turf can last in any climate or weather condition.
  • Turf won’t get soggy in the rain. This surface material doesn’t become muddy or flood like natural grass does. Because it has a layer under the grass-like layer that acts as a drainage system, water can easily fall through to the drain pad and then runoff to public drains.
  • You don’t need to trim or fertilize the surface. In turn, you can save money by reducing the number of people hired to maintain your lawn.
  • The surface material deters insects and other animals. Turf eliminates all components required for insect and animal survival such as soil, nutrients, and water. Also, it reduces the risk of hidden foreign objects that can potentially injure children who fall.
  • Turf is always vibrant green. You never have to worry about the visual appeal of your park, lawn, place of business or playground area.

Artificial turf has many benefits to play areas, residential and commercial lawns, resorts and sports fields. If you would like more information about artificial turf and its benefits, please visit BYO Recreation’s website. One of our professionals will be happy to provide you with more information on artificial turf and other surfaces.

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Playground Safety Playground Safety Surfacing

Does Your Playground Surfacing Lack Shock Absorbency?

An example of wooden mulch playground surfacing

Playground surfacing is one of the most important parts of a play space. Why? Because when kids fall they can get scrapes, cuts, bruises and, in serious cases, broken bones. However, with the right surface, you can help reduce the amount of damage done to a child who falls on the playground.

Playground Surfacing Types

All playground surfacing has a percentage of shock absorbency, some more than others. For example, concrete has a very poor ability to absorb shock waves from children who fall, resulting in more intense injuries. In contrast, rubber and wooden mulch have very high shock absorbency abilities. As a result, children who fall suffer less damage because most of the impact is absorbed into the surface.

Rubber Mulch

An example of multi-colored rubber mulch playground surfacing
Multi-colored rubber mulch playground surfacing.

Rubber mulch is made of shredded recycled rubber that will not freeze in the winter, absorb water, or sustain the growth of mold or fungus. Also, it does not attract bugs or emit odors and requires little maintenance over time.

Rubber mulch exceeds all of the safety requirements put in place by the ASTM, IPEMA and CPSC organizations and is ADA accessible. Finally, this surface is a great shock absorbent because of its material. Rubber has a large elasticity component, which allows it to compress when fallen on and spring back. This lessens a child’s fall because when the surface material is compressed it absorbs the impact.

Wood Mulch

An example of wooden mulch playground surfacing
Wooden mulch playground surfacing.

Much like rubber mulch, wooden mulch is also a fantastic shock absorbent. Wooden mulch is composed of 100 percent natural fibers and does not contain any chemicals or artificial components. This mulch is not the same as your garden mulch though. Garden mulch is usually dyed different colors for an aesthetic appeal and can be treated with chemicals to repel pests. This type of mulch is not compressed, leaving splinters that can injure children or adults. Playground mulch has been specifically engineered for playground purposes, meaning that there are no splinters or shreds of mulch that children can injure themselves on and there are no artificial dyes that can harm children’s health. Playground wooden mulch meets all of the ADA, ASTM and CPSC surfacing standards and id environmentally safe.

Among rubber and wooden mulch, rubber tiles, pour-in-place surfaces and sand are also great shock absorbents. Some of these surfaces must have a base surface made of crushed gravel or concrete to maximize the surface’s ability to absorb shock from an impact. Concrete and crushed gravel are poor absorbents, as mention earlier, but by having these materials as a base surface, they level out the ground and provide a slight elevation for proper drainage. This allows the top surface to lay flat and become a better shock absorbent.

Learn More About Playground Surfacing

To learn more about the shock absorbency of different surfaces please review our previous blog posts:

We can refer you to our National Playground Construction Company to schedule an inspection of your playground surface and play structures. If you would like to inspect your playground yourself, please use the safety checklist provided by the United States CPSC organization.

If you have any questions or concerns about your playground surface, please feel free to give BYO Recreation a call at 1-800-853-5316. One of our professionals will be happy to answer all of your playground surfacing questions.

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Playground Safety Surfacing

Rubber Playground Surfacing: Rubber Tiles vs. Poured in Place

An example of a boy playground on rubber tile playground surfacing

Rubber playground surfacing is the ideal choice for impact attenuation. The majority of injuries that occur in a play area are the result of children falling to the ground. Therefor, it’s important to have a good surface that will absorb the majority of shock from a fall. We’ll cover the two most popular types of rubber playground surfacing for such instances.

Types of Rubber Playground Surfacing

Two surfaces that are fantastic shock absorbents are pour-in-place surfacing and tiled surfacing. There are other surfaces that are great shock absorbents such as rubber and wooden mulch. However, for the sake of this blog, I want to focus on the tiled and pour-in-place surfacing.

Poured-in-Place

An example of colorful poured-in-place rubber playground surfacing
Rubber PIP playground surfacing at ARC of St. Johns.

Pour-in-place surfacing is a two-layered surfacing system. The bottom layer, or basemat layer, is made out of 100 percent SBR recycled rubber and polyurethane.  The top layer, or surface layer, is made out of EPDM recycled rubber and polyurethane. Recycled rubber is a fantastic shock absorbent. This surface is two layers, so it has double the shock absorbency, making children safer when playing.

The International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA) certifies this surface as safe to use around critical fall heights. Additionally, it meets all the playground regulations put in place by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). This surface is not only great for safety, but it’s a perfect way to customize your play space with one-of-a-kind designs and unique colors. For instance, the example above features fun shapes, numbers, and the business logo.

Rubber Tiles

An example of rubber playground surfacing tiles.
Rubber playground surfacing tiles at Amtrak.

Tile Surfacing consists of 2×2 foot squares bound together.  The squares are made with recycled and virgin rubber and must be installed over a crushed gravel or concrete base. This reduces weathering and maximizes the shock absorbency ability.  The tile surface prevents debris from entering the play area and makes for an easy clean up of any mess. This surface is approved by the CPSC government organization and is properly installed with varying widths depending on critical fall points around a play structure.

Lean More About Rubber Playground Surfacing

Both of these surfaces are ADA accessible, making is easy for children with special needs to experience all the thrill and excitement of playtime.  These two surfaces are amazing shock absorbents, which prevents children from serious injuries when falling.

Finally, if you have any questions about surfacing, please call BYO Recreation at 1-800-853-5316. One of our professionals will be happy to answer all of your questions and assist your shopping experience. Also, you can visit our site to learn more information about rubber playground surfacing.

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Playground Safety Playground Safety Surfacing

Safety Surfacing Details You May Not Know About

Laying the right safety surfacing at your playground area can be a lot harder than you think. You can’t just put down a couple bags of sand or mulch and say your playground is safe.

First, research surface materials and find out what the requirements are for surfacing your play space. Then you can provide proper safety surfacing throughout your playground. Lucky for you, you can find all of that information right here on our blog.

Safety Surfacing Options

Let’s start with your options. According to the CPSC Handbook for Public Playground Safety, there are two types of safety surfacing: unitary and loose-fill. The right surfacing for your playground will depend on many factors such as:

  • How much you would like to spend on safety surfacing. (This includes upfront cost as well as cost of maintenance.)
  • Playground use frequency and by how many children.
  • Site conditions like drainage and climate.
  • You know your total playground budget.
  • You’re interested in a long-term warranty.

Safety surfacing must be IPEMA tested AND approved in order to be compliant for playground use. Your surfacing should also allow your playground to be accessible to those with disabilities in accordance with ADA standards.

Unitary Surfacing

An example of poured-in-place safety surfacing.
Poured-in-place, rubber safety surfacing.

Unitary Safety Surfacing is durable, long lasting, and more flexible than traditional surfacing. Unlike loose fill, there is no displacement so daily or weekly maintenance is minimal.

To start, unitary surfacing materials are held in place by a binder that may be installed at the playground site, such as rubber mats, tiles and Poured-in-Place (PIP) material. Unitary surfaces are cured after installment to form a shock-absorbing surface. Curing after installment is strongly recommended to avoid discoloration and roughness.

The most common and versatile type of unitary surfacing is PIP. This is installed over asphalt, concrete, or crush stone, making it great for spare parking lot space. It’s also the most customizable option and does not require any borders.

On the other hand, rubber tiles offer a lower maintenance option for unitary surfacing and are especially great for facilities with indoor playgrounds. Also, maintenance is very simple and low cost with Rubber Tiles. Repairs are simple as you need only remove and replace the damaged tile.

Loose-Fill Surfacing

A shot of wood mulch playground surfacing
Wood mulch safety surfacing.

Loose-fill safety surfacing is a cost-effective safety surfacing for any facility that is looking for a high rated, affordable option. Additionally, it’s the most common playground surfacing used in the United States. These materials are loose bark, shredded, or chipped, and typically made of engineered wood fiber or recycled tires. This mulch is not like the mulch you toss in your garden though.

Playground mulch is specifically for outdoor play areas. Unlike garden mulch, playground mulch is compacts together, eliminating splinters and maximizing shock absorbency. Other loose-fill materials are sand, pea gravel and rubber mulch. Out of all surfacing options, Rubber Mulch provides one of the best impact attenuation ratings through IPEMA.

Loose-fill materials compress about 25 percent over time due to use and weathering, so it is important to consider this when filling your surface. For example. if it’s required to have nine inches of fill, then your initial fill should be 12 inches. This will account for the weathering and compaction over time. Therefor, although loose-fill surfacing is cheaper up front, it can cost more money over time.

Activity displaces the fiber and requires regular raking to be turned back into place. This is especially true in heavy use areas such as below swings and at the base of slides.

According to PlaygroundSafety.org, “equipment height influences the ability of a surface to provide protection in the event of a child’s fall. Research has shown equipment more than 5 feet high more than doubles the probability of injury. “

Safety Surfacing Shock Absorbency

Of course, both of these safety surfacing options have one important factors in common: shock absorbency. On a playground, shock absorbency may be the most important safety factor.

It’s inevitable that children fall, trip, and stumble on the playground. The more shock absorbency a surface has, the more cushion there is for fallen children. This helps lessen the impact of falls, preventing serious injuries and in some cases death.

Finally, all safety surfacing must have a three to six inch base ground made out of gravel and must comply to the ATSM F1292 standards. Having a base ground allows for proper drainage and helps your desired surface perform better.

Learn More About Safety Surfacing

For more information about surfacing or the importance of shock absorbency on the playground, please feel free you give us a call at 1-800-853-5316. One of our certified professionals will be happy to help you choose the best surface for your play space. We can also schedule an inspection or installment of your surfacing for you!

Additionally, we recommend you review pages 8-11 of the CPSC Handbook for Public Playground Safety to learn more about safety surfacing.

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Playground Safety Playground Safety Surfacing

Playground Safety Measures to Implement at Your Organization

boy-being-helped-by-an-adult-on-a-playground-spinner

Playground Safety is one of the most important components of safety in a play space, so it’s important to know what you should be inspecting in order to keep children safe at play.

Playground Safety Statistics

According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission:

About 200,000 children are treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms for playground equipment-related injuries. An estimated 148,000 of these injuries involve public playground equipment and an estimated 51,000 involve home playground equipment.

Also, about 15 children die each year as a result of playground equipment-related incidents. Most of the injuries are the result of falls. These are primarily falls to the ground below the equipment, but falls from one piece of equipment to another are also reported. Most deaths are due to strangulations, though some are due to falls.

Playground Safety Measures

Let’s educate you from the ground up on playground structure safety. Children at play may fall off the structure injuring their heads, arms and legs. Placing cement or asphalt under a play structure is forbidden because the surface does not have any kind of effective shock absorption. If a child falls and hits his or her head on these surfaces he or she may obtain a fractured skull or neck, a concussion or even swelling of the brain. Falling on these surfaces may also result in death.

Safe Playground Surfaces

An example of safe wood mulch playground surfacing.

Wooden and rubber mulch, fine sand and fine gravel are great surfaces for a play space. These surfaces have fantastic shock absorbency, preventing injuries upon falling. You still must maintain these surfaces, making sure the depth is well-kept and there are no exposed roots, rocks or hard ground.  All BYO Recreation surfaces are ADA, ASTM and CPSC certified. In other words, you can be sure that your children will have a lesser chance of injury if they fall.

Playground Structures

An example of playground bars exceeding the recommended 9" standard.
These playground overhead bars exceed 9″, and therefor do not present an entrapment hazard.

Moving up the ladder to the play structures, we can find more ways to implement playground safety. Let’s start with prevention of head entrapment.

Children love to climb through safety bars on the playground. However, if they attempt to go through feet first they will reduce their ability to climb out of danger’s way causing their head to get stuck between bars. If unattended, children can strangle to death as a result.

In general, openings that are closed on all sides should be less than 3 1/2″ or greater than 9″, according to the U.S. CPSC. Openings that are between 3′ 1/2″ and 9″ present a head entrapment hazard. These openings are large enough to permit a child’s body to go through, but are too small for a child’s head.

Installation & Maintenance

BYO Recreation offers professional installment of all playground equipment through our National Playground Construction Company (NPC). NPC is a licensed Certified General Contractor (CGC) and all NPC installers are certified by the National Playground Safety Institute as playground professionals (NPSI). Hiring us will ensure you that your playground is assembled properly and meets all the safety codes and regulations put in place by government organizations such as the U.S. CPSC.

We also recommend that you inspect all hooks to make sure they are tightly closed with no protrusions. This prevents children’s clothing from getting caught which, can cause strangulation. Ropes and cords are yet another way that children can be strangled. They can get tangled in or fall on to the rope or cord that has been tied around a part of the play structure. It is important to make sure ropes and cords hang normally and are not tied or tangled in dangerous ways.

Learn More About Playground Safety

These are only a couple ways to incorporate playground safety and reduce the amount of injuries or deaths on your play area. Help save children’s lives by inspecting your playground on a regular basis.

Additionally, to learn more about playground safety, please review the Public Playground Safety Handbook. To obtain a playground safety checklist please refer to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Public Playground Safety Checklist.

If you would like to request a professional to examine your playground equipment, please give us a call at 1-800-853-5316. One of our consultants will be more than happy to assist you and answer all of your playground safety questions.

Categories
Playground Safety Playground Safety Surfacing

Safety Surfacing Maintenance Best Practices for Playgrounds

example-of-poured-in-place-surfacing

Using proper safety surfacing to help avoid child injuries is the number one priority for BYO Recreation. Therefor, for Playground Safety Week, we want to provide you with a checklist of things to examine on your playground surface, so you can ensure your children are safe while playing.

Safety Surfacing Types

Loose Fill

Example of loose fill wooden mulch safety surfacing
Loose fill wooden mulch safety surfacing.

If you have a rubber or wooden mulch safety surfacing, you want to check its levels regularly. Over time, your mulch will become compact from children running and playing, children will pick the mulch up and toss it about, kids will even digs holes in the ground, which buries your mulch under dirt. Making sure that your mulch level is good keeps children safer because it keeps your ground level, it protects kids from tripping on any underground objects and it keeps kids from major injuries or infections that improper safety surfacing, like a hard dirt ground, can cause.

Unitary

Example of unitary poured-in-place safety surfacing
Unitary poured-in-place rubber safety surfacing.

Rubber tiled or poured-in-place safety surfacing is much more durable and lasting than mulch surfaces, but even these should be checked from time to time. Tiled surfaces can be pulled up by determined children or have dangerous objects wedged between the cracks. Over time, the tiles may even shift slightly making gaps that kids can trip on. Poured-in-place surfaces are a little more durable than tiled surfaces, but still have some risks. After years of wear and tear, your surface can become thin. This can cause kids to fall on harder ground or trip from an uneven surface. If you inspect your surfaces once a year for these issues, you can keep your kids safe during playtime.

Safety Surfacing Borders

example-of-playground-borders-for-loose-fill-surfacing
Playground borders for loose-fill surfacing.

It’s also a good idea to border your play space with BYO Recreation safety surfacing playground borders. Bordering your playground will designate where the children can play and where they may be out of sight from supervisors. This is also a great way to contain your playground mulch.

For more tips on how to inspect your playground for safety, check back here throughout the month of May 2013 and remember to inspect your playground during Playground Safety Week (April 21-27)! If you would like more information about your surface safety, or would like assistance fixing your playground problems, give us a call at 1-800-853-5316 and one of our associates, will be happy to help you determine your playground issue and select the best product to fix your problem.

To learn more about playground safety, please review the Public Playground Safety Handbook, and to obtain a playground safety checklist please refer to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Public Playground Safety Checklist.