Why Schools Should Avoid Rubber Playground Surfacing
Over the last 10 years, playground surfacing has developed into a massive market. As schools look to comply with up-to-date health safety rules, many are forced to upgrade their current play equipment and flooring.
In the past, school play equipment was basic and tried to steer clear of any potential injuries to children by limiting the height of the equipment rather than improving the safety aspect. Now with different flooring available for playground surfacing the apparatus have got more advanced but with this also the safety aspect becomes even more important.
Playground Surfacing Needs And Requirements
It may surprise you to know that there is legally no requirement for safety surfacing to be in place on children’s playgrounds (ROSPA), however under the Children’s act of 1989, playgrounds need to be safe and suitable for their surroundings, so it makes it even more important that you speak to a trusted playground surfacing expert.
According to ROSPA, The Royal Society for The Prevention of Accidents around 50% of
playground accidents in children results in a hospital visit however the vast majority of the more serious accidents are because of the equipment rather than the surface. Under school playground equipment you may look at wood chip or grass but for the main play areas of course this is impractical.
Risks of Rubber Playground Surfacing
The main reason you should not use rubber for your school playground surface is the risk of what is known as, rebound injuries. Neurosurgeons state that the rebound injury is often far worse than the initial impact injury so in effect you are creating a second impact by using a rubber surface. If you think of the type of activities carried out on a playground rather than around play equipment then these would normally be incidents perhaps happening at higher speed with children running across each other, increasing the risk of collision on the playground and therefore the increased risk of a head injury occurring from a rebound from the initial impact.
Investing In Playground Markings
The case for having a traditional playground surface is made much viable as these days, if you choose the right playground surfacing contractor, there is such a massive choice of playground game markings to be accessed and that does many things to help with safety. For example, if there are interactive games marked on the playground surface it tends to both keep groups of children in certain play areas, slows down potential running accidents of more children are confined to one area and, of course, can increase learning in all age ranges of school children.
Playground surfacing experts will be able to advise the correct type of markings needed for each age group in your school to provide all the school children with interesting and educational playground marking games. Of course, if you use thermoplastic playground markings they are fully weather resistant and durable.
There are so many choices of playground markings to be had these days such as a UK map, a World map, times tables grids, snails, dragons, caterpillars, shapes, numbers and of course the old favourite, hopscotch of which there are around 10 different versions to choose from. You can even go for a 3-meter diameter compass for extra learning with outdoor playground equipment.
Finding The Right Playground Surfacing Contractor
When considering all the above it’s so important to remember to use an experience playground surfacing contractor, someone where safety is paramount, their experience in specifically installing playground surfacing is renowned, and have expertise in providing advice geared towards the education of school children with outdoor play. Swift Surfacing tick all these boxes. You need to trust someone plan, construct and service your school playground surface so do look out for their experience in these projects as you do not want to just be an experiment for a standard surfacing company that does not specialise in all the above.
According to the experts then the main action you can perform to stop accidents is to provide the children with clear areas to play in using outdoor learning equipment. Rubber surfacing specifically in playgrounds away from equipment can escalate initial head injuries by incurring a rebound injury so it’s best to avoid it, always talk to an expert before you go ahead with your project.
Thank you for reading our article on how rubber can be the wrong choice for your school playground surface, we hope that you have found it interesting and enlightening.