Playground Equipments: All You Need to Know

Most kids these days have never had more options when it comes to fun - video games and electronic entertainment of all kinds are ubiquitous, and so are all kinds of moving toys. But amid a national childhood obesity epidemic, the need for children to play and exert the energy that builds up in fast-growing little bodies has never been more critical. Active outdoor play is crucial not only for physical exercise and fresh air, but also for making friends and developing social skills, both in the city and in suburban communities.

The way children play is also important; it should be fun, safe, and healthy for them from sport court construction. These and many other things make parents of every generation to come bring their children back to the playgrounds and make having a playground or some well-chosen equipment a real asset to a condo, cooperative, or community by HOA.

More Access, Less Concrete

A playground is a desirable amenity with a number of health and social benefits, but we also live in a highly litigious society, and a poorly designed or maintained play area is a disadvantage, not an advantage. Avoiding accidents to your building or association's play equipment is an obvious way to keep your smallest residents safe, of course, but it is also imperative to avoid lawsuits. There are many new developments in the materials and design of play equipment, and regardless of whether they have children themselves, board members and other residents should know something about these play systems.

A few decades ago, the playground equipment was pretty basic and the children were mostly unsupervised while playing from EPDM rubber flooring. The equipment usually consisted of swings, seesaws, some metal bars, and a metal slide with sharp corners or two, along with basketball hoops and maybe a tetherball setup. In recent decades, playground equipment has come a long way; the colorless pieces of welded metal laid on the unbreakable, heat-trapping black asphalt are long gone. Today, kids play with all kinds of neat interactive equipment, and if they spill, their fall is usually smoothed over with industrial-grade foam padding rather than asphalt or gravel.

Asphalt and concrete foundations for playground foundations have been phased out since the late 1970s and replaced with easier-to-use ones. But it wasn't until the 1980s that there was a truly concerted push to improve the safety of playgrounds and playground equipment in the U.S. Industry experts say the newer and more environmentally conscious regulations Safety was the result of thousands of reports for playhouse for kids from emergency rooms and hospitals across the country of fractures and other injuries sustained by children who slipped, fell or were cut on old-school play equipment. .

Around that time, playground equipment began to move away from simple metal and asphalt setups to the more colorful and user-friendly options currently on the market. The change accelerated in the 1990s, when the Consumer Product Safety Commission took a closer look at playground equipment in schools, parks, and homeowners' associations across the country, with a view to revising and improving the guidelines. Security and materials. At that time, parks and play areas were subject to federal law with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); In addition to meeting the new safety standards, those play spaces now also had to be accessible to everyone, regardless of their capacity.

Perhaps surprisingly, the consumer playground equipment like climber for kids market has not really fluctuated over the years. Despite a faltering economy and the rise of computer games, homeowners associations and residential buildings still buy and install as much new equipment as in the past. Regardless of economic times, people have children and children need to play, and that has made playground manufacturing a recession-proof business. Equipment wears out too - 12-15 years is typically the life of the playground equipment.

Playground suppliers and manufacturers are located across the country, making it relatively easy to upgrade an established playground or create a new one from scratch. While the equipment and surface offerings are diverse, vendors are happy to explain the options and the process by which an old playground is renovated or a new one is built.

Planning for Fun

While some pieces of equipment have fallen out of favor (metal slides that heat up to skin-scorching temperatures in the summer being a good example), other items - like playsets that incorporate an array of activities like climbing, swinging, sliding, and crawling through tubes and tunnels remain consistently popular. So are pieces made of recycled or upcycled materials.

“Whenever we design a new playground, 90 percent of the time it includes some sort of play structure, meaning an assortment of climbers, panels, slides, bridges and tunnels,” says George Ely, owner of George Ely Associates, an installer of playgrounds based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

If a community is planning to install new equipment or construct a play area from scratch, the first step is the same as hiring any kind of contractor: doing some research, then reaching out to three or four vendors or installers to discuss your building or association's vision, budget, demographics, and available space for the project. “We will guide them through understanding the playground equipment, its installation, and who’s going to install it,” Ely says.

Such guidance often can include a computer-aided mock-up of what the play area could look like after it's done, and can even include a 'virtual walk-through' of different iterations of a design, allowing a board or playground planning committee to 'try on' various options before committing to purchasing equipment. Professionals will also take into account factors like the age group or groups of children that will be using the play area. Play equipment is generally geared toward either of two groups: 2- to 5-year-olds, and 5- to 12-year-olds.

Some of the most popular pieces of playground equipment remain the same; but things are changing. They're getting fancier.

“Composite structures — slides and climbers, are still very popular,” says Keith Davis, a sales rep for Game Time Play \ in Sea Girt, New Jersey, which designs playgrounds and sells play equipment. “But over the last several years, there’s been more of an interest in theme-ing. More playgrounds have been going for a ‘natural’ look, with artificial trees and artificial boulders, ”Artificial trees made of fiberglass, that kids can climb on, are very popular now, he adds.

Obviously, installing play equipment meant for 12-year-olds when 5-year-olds will be playing with wooden kids house on it is a big liability. Understanding the needs of the kids in the community and their parents is important, and that’s why involving a pro is crucial. While in the past, do-it-yourself sets that required assembly by the purchaser were popular, these days it’s far more common - and advisable - to have a professional installer set up and test new play equipment. This goes back to safety, and the issue of liability and litigation. An improperly set up piece of equipment could easily cause injury or worse to a child using the set, and cost an association millions in damages. Professional installers work directly with manufacturers, and are specialists. They stand by their work, and the manufacturer stands behind all equipment that is correctly installed and maintained.

Safe landings

Playground safety starts from scratch. In some respects, a playground is only as safe as the surface on which it sits.

Perhaps the most important aspect of any playground installation or renovation is the surface area for playhouse slides. The surface of the playground, whatever it is, has a lot to do with the severity of injuries a child can sustain in a major fall. At worst, asphalt and concrete surfaces are the most likely children to be injured in a fall, but those old types of surfaces are rarely seen in modern play areas. Common sense and local and national regulations dictate safer surfaces than the old type of play at your own risk.

There are several types of surfaces that are used in modern playgrounds. They include unit liner, which is a material that is poured into place that looks like rubber mulch. It is mixed with a binding agent and can be quickly installed and spread at different levels of thickness.

A second type of cladding is the "rubber mat" variety, referred to as "tile" by manufacturers and installers. Rubber and wood mulch is also used as a surface in playgrounds. Wood playground mulch is a very different breed from the types of mulch used in flower beds; Playground mulch is called "engineered wood grain" in industry parlance, and is very specifically sized and shaped to prevent chipping and compaction of the surface. "If those pieces [of mulch] are too small, they stick together and compact, and the surface becomes too hard," says Bill Daubert, project manager for The Playground Pros, a playground equipment installer in Newmanstown, Pennsylvania. .

There is also synthetic grass, commonly known under one of his brands, AstroTurf, which generally has an inch or more of cushion under its surface (the thickness depends on the potential height of a fall at that location).

"Falls are a huge source of playground injuries," says Daubert. “In addition to that, you must have safety zones around the equipment, so that the child falls. You need at least six feet around the structure of a playground. For swings, your safety zone is twice the height of the crossbar, front and back. "

Other considerations

Once a playground is installed, maintenance can be contracted out to an installation company, which will have workers inspect the play area regularly, usually a couple of times a year. But play areas can be used a lot and may need more attention, depending on wear and tear, weather damage, and other factors. "Having someone to support it is great," Davis says. But vandalism happens all the time. That playing area should be checked as often as possible.

"The days of being able to play at your own risk are over," adds Davis. “Many attorneys now have a playground safety inspector certification, which allows them to inspect a playing field that is in dispute. Risk managers, attorneys, school employees, and others are earning that certification. If they have an active playground in the community, the building superintendent may want to get that certification. "

Meghan O'Brien, president of O'Brien & Sons, Inc., the largest provider of outdoor recreation equipment in New England (and a certified playground safety inspector), agrees and urges the boards directives to implement regular documented maintenance of your playground equipment. "Whether it's daily, weekly, or monthly, a board should set a schedule and make [playground maintenance] someone's responsibility so that you're covered in terms of liability," she says. After the snow and ice have melted and the weather's been getting nicer, "you'll want to look for anything that's been smashed or just broken. You'll need to take a look at the entire playground to make sure it's in good working order. Conditions, as far as missing parts are concerned. You will need to ensure that the surface is adequate, as you typically need a "loose fill" surface that is at least 12 inches deep. Also, look for broken bottles or other objects in the area and clubs that may have fallen. "

And if no one available has the time or desire to look for hazards on the playground, O'Brien points out that a board can hire a playground inspector, whom it would pay to audit the space. "It all comes from a risk management point of view," she says. "If you hire an inspector to look at your playground or appoint a board member to certify, and you have created a regulatory maintenance plan yourself, then you have increased your risk management and reduced your responsibility. "

Another way to limit potential liability is to make sure people are aware of the playground rules. Any playground or parklet should have a large, easy-to-read sign that explains the rules of the space, including the age limits for who can play there, as well as the rules regarding the presence of adults in the space. Many play areas specify that adults may not enter unless accompanied by a child of the appropriate age for the team.

Overall, playgrounds and play equipment are an attractive and valuable service to any multi-family community. They add value, foster community spirit, and offer children and adults a place to socialize and exercise, all on their own home grounds. Smart planning, proper installation, and regular maintenance can ensure that your community's play space remains a safe, fun, and well-liked service for years to come.