Playground Safety Surfacing 101 Which Surfacing is Best?

Playground surfacing is what lies beneath your play equipment.

The best solution is a shock-absorbing material such as wood chips or rubber. Among the worst choices are concrete, asphalt, dirt and grass. Let's dive in and talk about the importance of having good materials when it comes to designing or building your playground. 

They’re an exciting place to be! As such, children need to feel safe, and playground surfaces play a big part in this… mostly because children fall down … a lot. In fact, around 200,000 children visit the emergency room every year due to playground injuries, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

It’s natural for kids to be so absorbed in play that they forget to be careful and inevitably fall. This is where safety surfacing matters. The right material will absorb the shock of their fall, dampening it and avoiding costly catastrophes.

Playground Safety Standards

To ensure the safety of everyone on the playground, it is important to recognize hazards, common causes of injury, and how to mitigate situations. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) guidelines help parents, caregivers and playground specialists create playground environments that are safe and inviting to all.

Guidelines stipulate that: 

There are lots of surfaces to choose from when designing a playground. Budget-friendly options include wood chips and recycled rubber mulch. More expensive options include pour-in-place rubber and rubber tiles. Below, we’ll get into each type of playground surface and its pros and cons.

Poured-in-Place Rubber

There are two forms of poured-in-place rubber (PIP) safety surfacing. Both the traditional version of PIP and MRC’s RubberBond ELEVATE are typically composed of a two-layer system. Below we’ll break down the difference between the two.

Traditional poured-in-place safety surfacing begins with 2”-3” of a dust-like crumb rubber layer, which is then topped with a half-inch topcoat wear layer, resulting in a 2.5”-3.5” total system thickness. The average traditional poured-in-place system has a HIC rating of about 800, which is on the more dangerous side of ASTM compliance, but still compliant.

RubberBond ELEVATE on the other hand utilizes 3.5” of rubber mulch in the compaction layer, with a 1.5” topcoat wear course. The result of this 5” system is superior safety ratings with average HIC scores near 400. 

The average fall height within compliance with traditional PIP is 6”-8” while ELEVATE’s has been drop-tested within compliance at 16’. 

One thing we know about children is they will push boundaries while on the playground. This is why we prefer to provide safety surfacing that will provide a safe environment for children who may be stretching the boundaries of what playground equipment was designed for in terms of usage (think children climbing to the top hood of slides, or jumping from the railings, or leaping from the top of a swing.)

At MRC, we highly recommend poured-in-place rubber surfacing or synthetic turf for your playground.

They are extremely safe options — so safe, we trust them for our own families. Although the up-front costs may be higher than loose-fill options like engineered wood fiber and rubber mulch, PIP and synthetic turf playground surfacing require much less maintenance and upkeep throughout their lifetime.

For any outdoor water area like splash pads or spray parks, you need surfacing that is slip-resistant and durable. Aquatic surfacing will ensure your guests are safe, happy and cool during the hotter months of the year.

How and When to Use Splash Pad Rubber Flooring?

When installing equipment at spray parks, pools, splash pads or waterparks, we recommend Life Floor, a slip-resistant and impact-absorbing aquatic safety surface made of foam rubber.

Life Floor is:

Choosing the right playground surface comes down to your budget and design requirements. If you’re looking for lower cost and minimum customization, rubber mulch might be right for you. If you’re looking for colorful, long-lasting surfaces at a higher price point, rubber tiles or PIP surfacing will give you the best return on investment.

Need help deciding? MRC experts are ready to help you choose the right option for your needs.