A recycled rubber playground cover is the ideal playground safety flooring option thanks to its outstanding shock absorption capabilities. Rubber playground material not only provides excellent shock absorption, but it also offers enhanced traction, making it the all-around safety surfacing options for playgrounds. These rubber outdoor playground mats are highly resistant against damaging environmental factors, allowing it to be a versatile indoor and outdoor playground surfacing option. In addition, the recycled rubber material that is used to create a rubber playground cover offers a textured surface that helps enhance rubber’s already grippy surface. Furthermore, the material composition of a rubber playground cover offers a long-lasting surfacing option that is designed to last for years without worry of deterioration.

What Do You Put on the Ground of a Playground?

It is generally recommended to put a shock absorbent surface, such as a rubber playground cover, on the ground of a playground help ensure safety as children play. Even surfaces that may seem like they will cushion a fall, such as grass or carpet, are not sufficient to prevent life-threatening injuries. Case in point, “Manufacturers of plastic climbing equipment are labeling their products with warnings to NEVER put the equipment on concrete, asphalt, wood, or other hard surfaces and that carpet may NOT prevent injury” (cpsc.gov). A rubber playground cover is the ideal material for use as protective playground surfacing due to its excellent shock absorption properties. The surface under playground equipment plays a major role in the potential severity of an injury as most playground injuries are the result of falls off playground equipment and onto a hard surface. For instance, about 60% of playground related injuries are caused by falls off the equipment rather than from the equipment themselves (cpsc.gov). It is important to use playground safety flooring that retains excellent shock absorbing qualities as the most shock absorbent the material, the less likely a life-threatening injury is to occur.

Rubber playground material is the ideal material for playground surfacing as it will offer sufficient shock absorption. The shock absorbing performance of playground surfacing should correlate to the equipment on the playground – this is called “critical height”. According to the Handbook for Playground Safety, the “critical height of a surfacing material can be considered as an approximation of the fall height below which a life-threatening head injury would not be expected to occur” (cpsc.gov). A rubber playground cover retains a low compression set which allows it to efficiently absorb the force of impact without becoming damaged or deformed. In addition, it is also important to take into consideration the playground fall zone, or use zone, when choosing playground safety flooring. A playground fall zone, or use zone, refers to “the surface under and around a piece of equipment onto which a child falling from or exiting from the equipment would be expected to land” (cpsc.gov). A rubber playground cover should be thick enough to efficiently absorb the force of impact of a child jumping or falling from a piece of playground equipment. The higher the surface is, the more shock absorbent the rubber playground flooring must be to prevent life threatening injuries.

• (a) What Flooring is Used in Playgrounds?

  A recycled rubber playground cover is the type of flooring that is used in playgrounds due to its excellent shock absorption and anti-slip properties. Because children will most likely be running and jumping around, it must also have great shock absorption and anti-slip properties as well. Recycled rubber playground material derives from post-consumer vehicle tires making it highly resistant to rough conditions and damaging physical factors, such as impacts and abrasions. One of the main synthetic rubbers used to create vehicle tires, styrene butadiene rubber, or SBR, is made up of a mixture of butadiene and styrene copolymers which gives it excellent wear and abrasion resistance. For instance, “The addition of styrene lowers the price and contributes to the good wear and bonding properties. The addition of styrene also improves the strength, abrasion resistance, and blend properties of polybutadiene” (polymerdatabase.com). The process of making recycled rubber start with grinding the vehicle tires into a fine crumb. Then, it is mixed in with an adhesive to bond the crumb rubber together to form a larger sheet of rubber. Rubber is already a naturally traction-enhancing material; however, the crumb rubber composition of recycled rubber produces a textured surface on recycled rubber product that help add extra grip to rubber’s already naturally grippy surface. These properties allow a recycled rubber playground cover to be the safest playground surfacing option available.

  (b) Can I Use Rubber Flooring Outside?

  You can use rubber flooring outside without worry of damage thanks to rubber’s excellent resistance against damaging environmental factors. Rubber playground cover tiles are made of recycled rubber which is a type of rubber that derives from repurposed vehicle tires. Vehicle tires are subjected to constant wear and tear caused by environmental factors, such as UV rays, ozone, oxygen, and moisture, as well as rough terrain making rubber outdoor playground mats resistant to the safe damaging environmental factors. Due to its vehicle tire makeup, recycled rubber outdoor playground mats can be used and left outdoors indefinitely without worry of damage. In addition, its resistance to moisture helps it retain its naturally grippy surface to help prevent dangerous slip and fall accidents. Outdoor surfaces, such as grass and dirt, has no shock absorbing properties; therefore, it is recommended to add a shock absorbent playground surface over these areas. Due to its excellent resistance to damaging environmental factors, recycled rubber can remain a durable and reliable playground surfacing option for outdoor settings.

Recycled rubber playground material is the perfect playground safety flooring for both indoor and outdoor playgrounds. Playground safety flooring is designed to absorb the force of impact to help prevent life threatening injuries caused by falls off playground equipment. Being made of post-consumer vehicle tires, a recycled rubber playground cover offers outstanding resistance against damaging UV rays, ozone, oxygen, and moisture as well as excellent shock absorption properties. This resistance against environmental factors allows for indoor/outdoor versatile usage of a rubber playground cover that can last for years without showing signs of damage. Overall, a rubber playground cover is the ideal and best playground surfacing option that will provide a safer play surface for children.