Navigating Playground
Surfacing: Making Smart Choices for
Safety, Fun and Learning
By Tom Norquist, IPEMA
Introduction
School starts in September, and that
signals the official end to summer for
all school-aged children. Though some
may think this would lead to a drop in
community park and playground attendance,
some playgrounds will actually increase
in attendance, due to shared programs
with schools. READ
MORE
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Are
Poured in Place Playground Surfaces
Safe?
By David Spease, ASLA, CPSI
The State
of California Integrated Waste Management
Board encourages the use of California
recycled tires by promoting the development
of recycled-content products derived
from waste tires products and by
providing grants to promote use of
the products. They
provide two grant programs for playgrounds
and related recreational surfacing. One
grant is for Park accessibility and
the other is for Playground Safety. READ
MORE __________________________________________
Is It Really
Engineered Wood Fiber?
How to know
it’s the “real
deal”
By Jack Fry
Over the last
20 years, engineered wood fiber has been the most utilized
surfacing in the commercial playground industry. It
is very affordable, will last for years and meets basic
ADA accessibility needs. Due
to its popularity, there are numerous sources producing
engineered wood fiber. Unfortunately, there are
also a lot of companies producing similar wood playground
surfacing that is either sub-par material or simply
wood chips or mulch. READ
MORE
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Playground
Best Practices
11 steps to a successful playground
By Monty Christiansen, CPSI
The much-debated
(and sometimes maligned) term “best practices” refers,
at least in my mind, to those practices that have produced
outstanding results for folks I consider to be excellent
playground providers. If you’re looking to build,
retrofit, or simply improve your current playground
experience, I encourage you to consider utilizing these
11 “best practices”―they have
proven very successful. READ
MORE
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What
We Don’t Understand About
Playground Surfacing
By: Frances Wallach, Ed.D.
We have, since 1981,
had a set of federal guidelines, The Handbook for
Public Playground Safety (Handbook), which pointed
out that the major cause of children’s injuries
on the playground was from falls onto the surface underneath
the equipment on which they were playing. READ
MORE
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The
effect of safer play equipment
on playground injury rates among
school children
Andrew W. Howard,
Colin MacArthur, Andrew Willan,
Linda
Rothman, Alexandra Moses-McKeag, Alison
K. MacPherson
Background: Changes
to Canadian Standards Association
(CSA) standards for playground
equipment prompted the removal
of hazardous equipment from 136
elementary schools in Toronto.
We conducted a study to determine
whether applying these new standards
and replacing unsafe playground
equipment with safe equipment reduced
the number of school playground
injuries. READ
MORE
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Comparison Table
of CSA Z614 Standard Requirements
Reliable Reporting
This
comparison table represents the authors’ opinion on the
significant changes between the 2007,
2003, 1998 and 1990 editions of the
CSA Z614 Standard. READ
MORE
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Playgrounds
in the Nation’s Largest School
Districts
Henderson
Consulting Services, Inc.
This
report summarizes the results of
a survey of playgrounds and playground
planning in the nation’s
largest school districts. The survey
was conducted among school districts
with the twenty five largest student
populations.
READ
MORE
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Playgrounds
in the Nation’s Largest Urban
Park Districts
Henderson
Consulting Services, Inc.
This
report summarizes the results of
a survey of playgrounds and playground
planning in the nation’s
largest urban park districts. The
survey was conducted among park
districts in the country’s
twenty five largest population
centers.
READ
MORE
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Regular Playground Maintenance and
Inspection
Kenneth Kutska,
CPRP, CPSI
Reprinted from Today's Playground |
www.todaysplayground.com
Each
year, more than 200,000 children are
injured on playgrounds. Most of these
injuries could have been prevented. The
National Playground Safety Institute
(NPSI) and the National Recreation and
Park Association (NRPA) have created
a checklist for hidden hazards in playground
environments. READ
MORE
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