What is the safest playground surface material?

What is the safest playground surface material?

EWF is by far the safest and absorbs an impact of up to 12 feet when properly maintained at a 12-inch thickness. Although it looks like wood mulch, EWF is designed specifically for playground safety.

What is the rubber material on playgrounds?

Poured rubber is playground flooring that’s seamless and contains very small rubber granules that are stuck together. It’s not a loose material (like rubber mulch, wood chips, sand, or dirt). It’s a “solid” rubber surface for playgrounds or unitary playground surface, meaning that it’s not made up of rubber tiles.

Is rubber safe for children?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends the following precautions: Avoid mouth contact with playground surfacing materials, including mouthing, chewing, or swallowing playground rubber. This may pose a choking hazard, regardless of chemical exposure.

Is rubber mulch good for playgrounds?

Rubber mulch is non-toxic and safe for use around children and pets. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published a playground safety surfacing guideline for public playgrounds, stating rubber mulch is an appropriate loose-fill surfacing material for use on commercial playgrounds.

Is rubber mulch for playgrounds safe?

Both the EPA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, however, recommend and promote rubber mulch. Proponents of rubber mulch say it protects kids from injuries, and that studies have proved crumb rubber to be safe.

Is rubber surfacing good?

Rubberized surfaces (also called “wet pour rubber” or “bonded rubber stone”) are popular for good reason—they are durable, low-maintenance, long-lasting, comfortable to walk on (almost a spongy-like surface), and safe (meets critical fall height requirements as described by ASTM F-1292).

What can I put under rubber mulch?

Installation of a commercial grade geotextile landscape fabric is recommended under GroundSmart™ Rubber Mulch. Seam overlap needs to be a minimum of three inches and all seams need to be properly secured to prevent dirt or other substrate material from mixing with the safety surfacing.

Is black rubber mulch safe?

Rubber mulch is not organic, so it does not decompose and will not provide the soil with organic material. It contains chemical residues which can be harmful to plants. The most common chemical in rubber mulch that is found to potentially affect soil is zinc.

Can kids play with rubber mulch?

Federal and independent safety manuals, Hampton added, all point to rubber mulch as a safe surface for playgrounds. “All of them say the same thing,” said Hampton. “This is an appropriate material to be used in a playground.”