By investing in a wooden play structure, you invest into your child’s physical development, social development, and imagination skills. Keep your child safe as he or she is playing and learning.
Each year, about 50,000 children go to U.S. hospital emergency rooms because of injuries on home playground equipment. About 80% of the injuries occur when children fall from play equipment. To reduce injuries and protentially life-threating injuries, one of the most important things you can do is install the proper protective gound surfacing under and around your wooden play structure. Your lawn, grass and dirt, IS NOT considered protective ground surfacing because wear and environmental factors can reduce their shock absoring effectiveness.
No matter what ground surfacing you have, injuries from falls may occur, including broken limbs. However, with the proper shock absorbing protective ground covering, it is less likely for your child to aquire any serious injuries including protential head injuries that could be life-threatening or life-altering.
Protective Surfacing:
You wooden play structure should never be installed without protective surfacing of some type. Contrete, asphalt, or other hard surfaces should never be directly under your wooden play structure. Grass and dirt are not considered protective surfacing because wear and environmental conditions can considerably reduce their shock absorbing effectiveness. Certain manufactured synthetic surfaces, carpeting and mats, are acceptable; however, test data on shock absorbing performance should be requested from the manufacturer. These test results should comply with ASTM F1292. (ASTM F1292 Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment)
ASTM F1292 ratings provide the “critical height” rating of a surface. This height can be considered as an approximation of a fall height below which a life-threatening head injury would not be expected to occur. This rating should be greater than or equal to the fall height - the distance between the highest part of your wooden play structure and the protective surface beneath it.
Certain loose-fill surfacing materials are acceptable, such as the types and depths shown in the table below. To determine the proper types and depths of recommended protective gound surfacing, determine the “critical height” for falls, as noted in the above paragragh, and view the chart below.
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FALL HEIGHT IN FEET FROM WHICH A LIFE-THREATENING (Minimum Compressed Loose-Fill Surfacing Depths) |
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Type of material |
6” Depth |
9” Depth |
12” Depth |
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Double-shredded bark mulch |
6 Feet |
10 Feet |
11 Feet |
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Wood chips |
7 Feet |
10 Feet |
11 Feet |
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Fine sand |
5 Feet |
5 Feet |
9 Feet |
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Fine pea gravel |
6 Feet |
7 Feet |
10 Feet |
Fall Safety Zones:
Your fall safety zone, covered with a protective surfacing material, is essential under and around your wooden play structure. This area should cover a minimum of 6 feet in all directions from the perimeter of the play structure and also be least 6 feet away from any buildings or obstacles, and that includes fences, sheds, trees, or poles. In the swing area, you should have a larger safety zone to the front and rear of the swing. This distance should be equal to or greater than twice the height of the top beam from which the swing is suspended. (For example: If the swing beam is 10 feet off the ground, the safety zone should be a minimum of 20 feet in front and 20 feet behind the swing. So, the total play area should be a minimum of 40 feet wide.)
The above information is supported the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) at cpsc.gov.
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