It was summer, 1968. My brother and I were playing on state of the art play equipment; the swing. This particular model had the "au natural" beam support; a 10" diameter, Manitoba ample branch at 12' high. The beam height definitely allowed for a significant thrill factor. My brother was pushing hard and we were getting as close to the "sweet spot", 90 degrees, as you could possibly get. It was a lot of fun, being temporarily suspended at 12'.
Let's pause for a moment. Have you ever noticed how many childhood memories fade with time and can only be recalled when a brain surgeon accidentally jars the "wrong spot"? Why is it that the clearest memories are frequently those associated with pain, with the greatest pain providing the clearest memory?
Well, I have a very vivid memory of just exactly how hard the ground under the swing was that day. There was the adrenaline rush as I experienced what a fledgling must experience when it is pushed out of the nest. My 5 year old body was unable to defy gravity. Despite how hard I flapped my wings, it still seemed the ground was coming at me at an awesome speed! After the customary 4 minute "loss of wind", the first words were, "My arm hurts". Next thing I knew, I was just a statistic! Another one of the estimated 2,670,000 children injured on play equipment each year. (1992 - 267,000 recorded injuries. NEISS Study. It is estimated only 1 in 10 is serious enough to be reported). 70% of all these injuries were due to falls.
Fast forward to spring 1996. Now I am observing my 5 year old daughter playing on the latest recreational play equipment. It's a far cry from "when I was a kid". Crawl tube, swaying bridge, abacus panels, store panels, water play; the list goes on and on. On top of all this she's rolling all over a colourful, clean, resilient rubber surface. Not the same kind of ground that I kissed 30 years earlier! It's obvious that current play equipment is now designed to develop the co-ordination, imagination and social skills of our children. All of this advanced stimulation occurs in a much safer environment.
The single biggest advancement (because it addresses the greatest area of potential injuries) in playground safety has been the introduction of resilient safety surfacing standards (CSA, ASTM, CPSC). This resulted in a major review of all current and planned play space surfacing. Increased maintenance and longer lasting surfaces have both contributed to reducing the number of injuries due to falls.
Play space safety surfacing comes in 2 categories; bound (solid) and unbound (loose). The unbound surfaces are the traditional sand, pea stone and shredded bark chips and the not so traditional, loose rubber tire granules. The systems are widely used because they have a low initial installation cost and are adequate surfaces in most environments. However, they have some inherent disadvantages such as significant annual maintenance (due to "ditching" under slides and swings), Sharp objects are hidden below the surface (glass etc.), the loose granules are dirty (attract animal waste, materials track into surrounding buildings etc.), the wet granules freeze during the winter and finally, they are potentially dangerous because the materials can be thrown or swallowed. The current CSA Guideline on Children's Play spaces and Equipment includes an excellent review of the different types of protective surface materials available with their advantages, disadvantages and recommended maintenance (pg. 27 of CSA Standard) This review deals with many of these issues discussed above.
There are several types of bound playground safety surfaces with "rubberized" surfaces being the most popular. These surfaces are sometimes called "rubbercrete" or "softcrete". They have a much higher initial cost than the unbound surfaces but they do offer many advantages, such as consistent resilience in all temperature ranges, allowing the surface to meet the ASTM F1292-93 and CPSC standards in any climate conditions, very low annual maintenance, rapid drying because they are porous, cleanliness and colour.
Another significant feature, inherent to bound rubber surfaces is the ease of wheelchair access. This is very important in the USA and is becoming an issue in Canada. Many of the provisions in the American With Disabilities Act are being adopted into Canadian municipal bylaws. All public structures (including play spaces) must allow access for the disabled. Loose fill systems (with some exceptions) cannot provide wheelchair access to play spaces. An ASTM committee (F08 52.01) is currently developing a surfacing accessibility standard. This will have important implications for all playground surfaces. It is expected that bound rubber surfaces will continue to be the surface of choice for those who need disability access.
Another important benefit of bound rubber surfaces is the positive environment impact. Each square foot of 2" thick, bound rubber surfacing uses approximately the same weight of rubber that is retrieved from a normal passenger car tire after it has been granulated. Presently 270 million tires per year are being added to North American scrap piles. 80% of this total is used by cement kilns as tire derived fuel (TDF). Burning tires for fuel does align with the 3 R's of recycling. The rest are recycled into marketable products such as safety surfacing. However, the existing stock piles of tires are expected to remain for several years. Play space surfacing made from recycled tire rubber is an excellent way to keep our parks "green".
Bound rubber surfaces are also becoming very popular in other recreational areas such as golf course walkways, rock climbing facilities, pool decking and surfacing for fitness equipment. The architectural market is also designing bound rubber surfaces into retail flooring, work station areas and roof top patios. If you have not walked on one of these surfaces yet, rest assured you will soon!
Many "flagship" parks, supported by liberal donations from local service clubs, often have the entire surface completed with bound rubber. Also, daycare's, with younger play participants, who interact with the ground more often than older children during play, prefer to "go all the way" with bound rubber surfacing. We have all been in the new McDonald's Playlands. Faced with high traffic and potential liability, these areas are always entirely surfaced with rubber tiles. But then, they have deep pockets after serving "billions and billions" of hamburgers to parents whose children learn to say "Donald's" before the say "Dada".
The long running, famous Caterpillar ad sums it up best; There are no simple solutions, only intelligent choices. Trying to walk the line between major decreases in funding and simultaneous major increase demand for recreational services has put the squeeze on parks and recreation departments, daycare facilities and school boards. At the same time, maintenance budgets are being slashed. What do we do? Low initial cost with higher long term maintenance? Or vice versa? Park designers and play space providers are meeting this challenge with innovative solutions. Installing bound rubber surfacing to wheelchair transfer points and loose surfacing in the rest of the area is one option. Regardless of the surfacing selected, more thought must go into play space surfacing than ever before.
With all these surfacing improvements, you'd think I wouldn't have to be standing here, watching Laura-Mae play? Might as well go read the paper? - that's a No No - Despite all the "lawsuit happy, McDonald's coffee spillers" out there, the greatest safety feature of any play space is still....an informed child and observant parent or supervisor. Happy landings!
Ben Prins is the General Manager of Sof Surfaces Inc. in Sarnia Ontario Canada.