Playground Advisory

6 standards and laws do provide for testing of the installed surfaces with the portable test devices. Therefore the deter- mination of a failure is generally not as difficult as some would be lead to believe. Best Practices Designing or purchasing a playground surface is a complicat- ed process. The owner/operator could face serious financial consequences for the performance of the surface over the life of the installation. Clearly the playground protective sur- face being dynamic and outdoors complicates any decision. Additionally there are the two aspects to the surface, the portion that will have to meet accessibility requirements and the balance of the playspace where accessibility may be de- sired, but is not a legal requirement. Developing a Best Practice involves strategies that achieve component requirements and then reviewing if the one strat- egy is in conflict with other requirements or will the enhance- ment of one criterion beneficially affect other requirements. This does not mean that other strategies will not achieve a positive result. The beauty of best practices is that there can be many and each will have merit. Since this is a market driven world the Best Practice is best adopted, mandated and enforced by the owner/operator as they have the most to lose financially. There will have to be well written specifications, performance measures, testing and financial penalties such as non-payment for non- performance and strong warranties. Taking this action will result in manufacturers, suppliers and installers responding in a competitive manor to provide the better products at com- petitive pricing. The first recommendation of the Best Practice is to not pay for any part of the protective surfacing installation until it has been completely installed, the performance testing outlined below is confirmed, maintenance documents are presented and warranties are provided. Any payment prior to compli- ance might be lost to the owner/operator should the supplier fail to make corrections. Impact Attenuation The minimum requirement for impact attenuation is that the Gmax must not exceed 200 and the HIC shall not exceed 1000 from the fall height for each play component. Every surfacing supplier must have a test certificate that is less than 5 years old and the critical height must be greater than the fall height of any play structure to be installed. Many surface systems will lose impact attenuation, either through attrition or system failure causing maintenance or re- placement. Standards allow and recommend that the owner/operator se- lects lower initial values and with the drop height being deter- mined by the owner operator prior to purchase, this can be higher than the minimal fall heights in the structure standards. Recommendation – Drop height for testing at the time of instal- lation shall be the tops of barriers, guardrails, swings, climbers and any railing within 10 o of flat and the Gmax shall be less than 150 and the HIC shall be less than 800. At the end of the 5 year warranty period, the Gmax and HIC shall not exceed the requirements of the relevant standard from the initial drop heights. Recommendation – The owner/operator shall acquire the criti- cal height test certificate for the surface being installed and assure themselves that the surface system in the certificate is in fact the surface system that is being installed. Recommendation – For loose surfacing systems, the supplier must provide a certificate that the surface depth being installed will remain sufficient during normal use to continue to meet the performance of the impact attenuation standards from the original drop heights. Definition of Accessible Route The accessible route for must be defined (laid out) for all of the play components, both elevated and ground level. There are playgrounds where all of the play structures are supplied by the same manufacture, while there are instances where the owner or their consultant selects structures from a number of manufactures. In any event each play structure supplier must define the elevated and ground level accessible components as required in the appropriate requirements. It will be the re- sponsibility of the play structure suppliers and the owner or their consultant to ensure the accessible route is appropriately defined, particularly the ground level routes and the junction with accessible routes to the playspace. Recommendation – Drawings defining the elevated and ground level accessible shall be included bed/tender and contract docu-