How to Ensure Your Children Play on Safe Playgrounds

Playgrounds are built to withstand children climbing on, sliding down, and running over its bridges, swings, and slides. Many residential playground owners, however, do not give as much attention to the surfacing of these playgrounds. When installing a playground, often the only backyard playground surfacing that is used is the existing surfacing such as grass, dirt, or even cement. This is a problem! To make sure that these are safe playgrounds, it is important to use a surfacing that is impact absorbent and cushioned, preventing serious injury from trips or falls. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, reports that “almost 60% of all injuries are caused by falls to the ground. [Using] protective surfacing under and around all playground equipment can reduce the risk of serious head injury” (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/323.html). Rubber outdoor playground tiles have numerous safety features to help keep active playground-goers safe. The following is a list of the top eight benefits of using rubber outdoor playmats:

1. Cushion: Cement, grass, and even sand have very little give so that upon impact, they remain hard which can result in serious injury. For residential playground surfaces, this is a large safety threat when children are running around or on top of high structures. Any trip or fall can result in injuries that could have been prevented using a softer surface. Rubber outdoor playground tiles are thick, cushioned mats that act as a layer of protection between a child and the hard subsurface that the tiles sit upon.

2. Shock Absorbent: One of the most important safety features of rubber mats is its ability to absorb shock or impacts. Unlike hard surfaces such as cement or ceramic tiles, rubber prevents any rebounding shock waves back into the object that has fallen. This means that if a child falls, the shock waves from the impact do not bounce back up from the surface to cause further harm, but are rather absorbed by the tiles to drastically lower the amount of pain or chance of injury. In fact, the U.S. CPSC states that one of the easiest ways to create safe playgrounds is to use shock-absorbent surfacing

3. ASTM F1292 Rated: It is important to check what the fall height rating is for any rubber outdoor playmats to ensure that they are right for your specific playground structure, i.e. a six foot structure requires a tile with at least a six foot fall height rating. By the way that is the recommended fall-height rating for ASTM F1292-09 “Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surfacing Materials within the Use Zone of Playground Equipment.” This information can generally be found directly in the catalogues of the product or from a salesperson.

4. Ease of Installation: Since outdoor playground tiles can be interlocked, installation is a simple DIY project. This is especially true when the subfloors are already in place in the form of concrete or asphalt. In this case there is not need to prepare the subfloors!

5. Anti-Slip: Using rubber for your residential playground surfaces will not only help lower chance of injury from falls, but also prevent any accidental trips. Rubber has a naturally high coefficient of friction to provide better grip and traction. This means that when your children are running around on outdoor playground tiles, they have non-slip flooring to protect them from slipping. We all know how hard it is to stop children from running when they’re excited, especially when playing at a playground. Rubber mats help to keep these active children safe when they don’t listen or don’t want to listen.

6. Sanitary: We have all heard the horror stories of objects left in playgrounds that can be sharp, dirty, and dangerous. These are, simply put, huge health risks for anyone at the playground. Risk of infection or sickness is a serious threat to the safety of children and parents alike. Sand, grass, and woodchips can cover these objects if they are buried underneath, but will not prevent the object from poking or scraping anyone who happens to walk by. With rubber backyard playground surfacing, any objects that fall onto the ground remain in plain sight on top of the tiles. Safe playgrounds require floors that promote safety! They cannot be covered up by another part of the surfacing. This helps to spot any risky or hazardous materials for parents to easily sweep up and throw away. Rubber tiles are also incredibly easy to maintain and clean. They can be swept by a broom or, for more intensive cleaning, hosed off and mopped up. Any tiles that show signs of wear and tear can be quickly replaced without having to redo the entire area. This ensures that the play area can always remain in tip-top condition.

7. Long-Life: Since rubber outdoor playmats are made from recycled tire crumb, they exhibit the same resilience tires do. Tires are built to withstand outdoor conditions being driven on asphalt at 60 MPH! Fortunately playground tiles do not have to go that fast. Products made from recycled tires are ultra durable, especially outdoor!

8. Affordable: Since installation is easy, there is no need for adhesives, nor glue the overall cost of installing the tiles is low. Maintenance required is minimal, since the tiles are made for outdoor conditions. If one or two playground tiles are damaged, replacing them is real easy, lowering the cost of ownership in the long-run. Unlike mulch or sand there is no need for adding new materials every so often.

Playgrounds should never be a place where parents have to worry about their children getting severely hurt. The easiest way to ensure that you are going to clean and safe playgrounds is to check the flooring of the playground. Avoid playgrounds where the structures are set on asphalt or cement. A fall off playground equipment onto these unforgiving surfaces can result in injuries that could have been prevented with surfaces that are shock absorbent and cushioned. Rubber flooring can dramatically reduce both injuries from falling as well as prevent accidental trips. By installing this surfacing, you can rest easy knowing that your children are better protected from critical injuries and accidents.