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Rubber Outdoor Playground Surfacing Facts: A Guide to Playground Safety

When constructing a playground whether meant for children or adult games, the playground surfacing is one of the key issues to consider.

Playground safety surfacing is a material that ensures safety surface around and beneath playground equipment such as slides and swings. They help in avoiding the presence of non-shock absorbing surfaces in playgrounds. Some recommended surfacing materials include rubber, wood chips, mulch, and sand.

Rubber playground surfacing is material laid down on the ground, under and around playground equipment. Usually, the surfacing material is made of rubber or wood and mostly designed specifically to serve the purpose of aesthetics or child safety. They mostly consist of recyclable rubber products.

At school, besides class work, children need to play to relax their mind and for a healthy growing, but some risks are involved with playing and playgrounds.

A major cause of sports injuries are from tripping and falling on the ground, that eventually results in fractures, dislocations and internal injuries among other sports injuries. In US 200000 children are said to be sent to the emergency room every year from playground related injuries. From these measures of preventing this playground, related injuries should be taken into consideration and chosen appropriately.

EPDM (ethylene propylene diene methylene) rubber, these are non-toxic materials of the highest quality with defined characteristics made of original rubber compounds. EPDM is a highly and long-lasting synthetic rubber and with a wide range of usage.

Fairmont industries are one of the industries producing the right rubber playground surfacing materials. Fairmont has been producing and supplying quality raw materials for almost two decades worldwide. Fairmont offers three different grades of EPDM granules that are right for safe playground surfacing. These grades are elastic play, elastic sprint, and elastic score.

Ecolastic play

This is EPDM granules suited for softness elasticity and resistance to fading. It also suits the application of wet pour safety surfacing in tracks and playgrounds. Fairmont industry produces 18 standard colors with contemporaries which are inorganic and with a longer span without fading in contrast to their radiants.

Ecolastic sprint

Consists of EPDM granules suited for long life span and polyurethane compatibility. Ecolastic sprint is made in a way that suits its application in economical tracts including the certified IAAF tracks. Under this plastic sprint is graded into two for the better of their applications. The grades are an elastic sprint and ecolastic sprint plus.

The main difference is that elastic sprint is mainly meant for economical tracks in institutions that do not require IAAF accreditation while ecolastic sprint plus is meant for tracks that are tested and endorsed by IAAF. Mostly the standard colors recommended for ecolastic sprint is red, navy blue and tea green.

Ecolastic score (green infill for green grass)

In this EPDM granules are meant for safety and cost minimization. It is directed for the application as infill for artificial turf. They are produced in four different colors: grey, forest green, apple green, and beige. The black color is avoided as it is a good heat absorber; hence the Fairmont infill provides a cool surface.

In conclusion EPDM granules or rubber is one of the right rubber playground safety surfacing.