| With 70% of playground injuries resulting from falls off equipment onto unforgiving surfaces, how you handle surfacing is very important to your children's safety and your risk management effort.
The surface under and around your playground equipment can go a long way toward preventing the injury potential from a fall. Hard surfacing materials, such as concrete or asphalt are unsuitable for under and around play equipment. Grass or packed earth are also not recommended because they have poor shock absorbing properties and injury may occur from a maximum fall height.
Rubber Tiles
Shock-absorbing resilient tiles provide a permanent, maintenance-free answer to playground safety and accessibility needs in compliance with the guidelines established by the CPSC and ASTM.
Poured-in-Place
Similar to tiles in its shock-absorbing properties and being maintenance-free. Poured-in-place rubber surfacing is trowled around your play equipment providing a seamless surface that meets all CPSC and ASTM guidelines for safety, durability and accessibility.
Accessible Wood Fiber
The most common playground surfacing solution because of the reduced initial costs. Wood fiber meets the safety and accessibility requirements.
Selecting a Fall Absorbing Surface
Unity Material
Examples: Tiles, Poured-In-Place Rubber, Rubber Compositions
| Advantages |
- Low maintenance
- Easy to clean
- Consistent shock absorbency
- Material is not displaced during use
- Generally low life cycle costs
- Provides good footing
- Harbors few foreign objects
- Not ideal for microbial growth
- Attractive appearance
- Multiple colors can be used to form designs in surfacing
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Disadvantages |
- Initial cost relatively high
- Might require concrete or asphalt under surfacing
- Level uniform surface is needed
- May be flammable
- Subject to vandalism
- May curl up and cause tripping
- Could be susceptible to frost damage
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Organic Loose-Fill Material
Examples: Wood Chips, Wood Mulch, Double Shredded Bark Mulch
| Advantages |
- Low initial cost
- Ease of installation
- Readily available
- less abrasive than inorganic loose-fill materials such as gravel or sand
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Disadvantages |
- Cushioning potential can be reduced by environmentol conditions, use over time, pulverizing, displacement of materials
- Cannot be installed over hard surfaces
- Requires a method of containment
- Requires good drainage underneath material
- Requires periodic renewal or replacement and continuous maintenance to maintain appropriate depth and remove foreign matter
- Can be blown or thrown into children's eyes
- Conceals animal excrement and trash
- Spreads easily outside of containment area
- Can be flammable
- Subject to theft by neighborhood residents for use as mulch
- Subject to vandalism
- Subject to microbial growth when wet
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Organic Loose-Fill Material
Examples: Gravel, Sand
| Advantages |
- Low initial cost
- Ease of installation
- Does not pulverize
- Nonflammable
- Not ideal for microbial growth
- Attractive appearance
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Disadvantages |
- Cushioning potential can be reduced by environmental conditions, use over time, displacement of materials
- Cannot be installed over hard surfaces
- Requires a method of containment
- Requires good drainage underneath material
- Can be blown or thrown into children's eyes
- Subject to vandalism
- Can be compacted and requires periodic break-up
- Requires periodic renewal or replacement and continuous maintenance to maintain appropriate depth and remove foreign matter
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Playground surfacing helps cushion the fall.
Shock-absorbing Rubber Tiles
Poured-in-Place rubber surfacing provides a seamless surface. |
