When landscape architects are tasked with planning and constructing a public playground, they must consider a multitude of fundamental planning aspects. The top priority, of course, is the safety of children at play. The normative requirements for this are regulated in DIN EN 1176 and DIN EN 1177, which form the cornerstones of the legal regulations.

Which Impact Protection for the Playground? From Wood Chips to EPDM

Both in playground equipment and in shock-absorbing playground surfaces—impact protection surfaces—landscape architects can choose from numerous product and execution variants, provided they are appropriately tested and approved in Germany. Which impact protection surface is suitable for which project depends on the specific design and local conditions. To assist in decision-making, we have compiled the advantages and disadvantages of the materials available on the market for you: The range of impact protection surfaces includes loose fill materials such as sand, gravel, wood chips, and bark mulch, rubber impact protection mats, and seamless synthetic impact protection surfaces made of EPDM. Additionally, some manufacturers, like us at Polytan, also offer impact protection surfaces with an artificial turf surface in their portfolios.

But first, let's take a closer look at the normative foundations.

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Impact Protection Under Playground Equipment – Detailed Legal Framework

As mentioned at the beginning, the requirements for an impact protection surface are essentially regulated in the European standard series DIN EN 1176 "Playground Equipment" and DIN EN 1177 "Shock-absorbing Playground Surfaces". It is important to know that shock-absorbing floor coverings are mandatory from a free fall height of 60 cm. However, up to a fall height of 1 m, topsoil is sufficient, and due to a national exception, grass is allowed in Germany up to a height of 1.50 m. Playground equipment that causes so-called "forced movement"—such as swings, seesaws, or carousels—requires a shock-absorbing surface. This is logical, as the fall height of a swinging child, for example, quickly exceeds 60 centimeters and more.

The effectiveness of a surface in preventing injuries to falling children can be measured by its HIC value. HIC stands for Head Injury Criterion and is the measure for the severity of head injuries. The so-called critical fall height on children's playgrounds begins at an HIC value of over 1000; if the value is below 1000, experts assume that head injuries will not result in permanent damage. From a fall height of 3 m, the legislator generally prescribes a non-climbable fall protection.

No matter which shock-absorbing playground surface a landscape architect chooses: All products should be tested by an independent testing institute according to DIN EN 1177. You are on the absolutely safe side with products that have a quality certificate according to RAL or DIN-Certco (for example, RAL GZ 943/3 impact protection surfaces). In a defined procedure of production control and sampling, independent testing institutes check whether the installed product systems meet the requirements of the quality and testing regulations. Despite control and testing, the different impact protection products show significant advantages and disadvantages in daily use and proper usage due to their material-specific differences.

Price and Maintenance of Impact Protection Surfaces: Loose Fill and Synthetic Compared

Many builders initially orient themselves by the price of an impact protection surface. After all, municipalities in particular, as builders of public playgrounds, must always calculate cost-consciously. The fact is that loose fill materials such as sand, gravel, or wood chips are initially cheaper to purchase than synthetic mats and surfaces. However, these lower acquisition costs are quickly offset by the high maintenance requirements of the various materials. Conventional loose fill must be loosened and sieved or refilled at relatively short intervals. This is especially true for quickly worn areas such as the exit of a slide or the seating areas under a seesaw.

In addition, regular deep cleanings are indispensable for sand, gravel, and wood chips or bark mulch—because buried dog feces or carelessly discarded trash definitely do not belong in the hands of playing children. Weather- and rot-resistant synthetic surfaces made of EPDM are the significantly more hygienic alternative on children's playgrounds in this regard: They only need to be cleaned superficially and do not lose their shock-absorbing effect even when wet—which can partially or even completely happen with loose fill. Since synthetic impact protection surfaces are water-permeable, water is quickly drained, no permanent puddles form, and the surfaces dry quickly again.

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The Advantages of Impact Protection Surfaces: Long Lifespan, Robust, Seamless

For a lifespan of over ten years, we as manufacturers of seamless impact protection surfaces recommend regular intensive cleaning with suitable equipment every two to three years—of course, depending on local conditions such as shading or contamination with leaves from surrounding trees. And last but not least, synthetic surfaces are weather- and rot-resistant, unlike their natural alternatives, which simply decompose over time through rotting.

The disadvantage of synthetic surfaces: Only experts can determine whether they still have their full damping. Rotten bark mulch or compacted, hard sand, on the other hand, are relatively easy for laypeople to recognize. On the topic of inclusion, seamless synthetic surfaces can score again: Due to their smooth surface, they are also easy for wheelchair users to navigate. By the way: (Bicycle) wheels or children on stilts also leave no unwanted marks on the ground. In addition to the price and product-specific properties of an impact protection surface, the design potential of the material also plays a decisive role for landscape architects.

Creatively Designing Playgrounds in the City with Impact Protection Surfaces

On a remote forest playground, natural materials are certainly the right choice. Here, nature itself is the greatest adventure space, and wood chips, for example, fit perfectly into this environment both visually and haptically. However, in our opinion, three-dimensional, colorful adventure landscapes in urban areas are best created with seamless synthetic surfaces. The trick: The smooth surfaces are slip-resistant and can be easily installed on curved and sloped surfaces. Colorful surfaces stimulate children's imagination: On a dark blue surface, they imaginatively set sail as sailors, on a light blue/white surface, they hop from cloud to cloud in their imagination. Challenging color gradients have also been implemented by Polytan, as well as elaborate symbolic images for fire, water, air, and earth in special colors (as implemented in our project Paulinenhilfe, Stuttgart).

Construction and Installation of a Seamless Impact Protection Surface

Seamless, water-permeable impact protection surfaces have a two-layer structure: a top layer about 15 mm thick made of colored EPDM granulate and an elastic layer about 30 to 115 mm thick made of recycled rubber materials. The thickness of the base layer depends on the critical fall height of the respective playground equipment—the higher the climbing tower, the thicker the second, lower layer of the impact protection surface. There are impact protection floors on the market up to a fall height of 3 m, after which, as already mentioned, a fall protection must be planned. Seamless EPDM impact protection surfaces adapt to all corners, edges, and unevenness on site because they are installed in a so-called in-situ installation process. Granulate is coated with a PU binder and bonded together. In the top layer, the EPDM granulates are 1 to 3.5 mm in size, and in the base layer, 2 to 8 mm thick rubber granulates are used. The drying phase takes about 24 hours, after which the surface can already be walked on.

Conclusion on Impact Protection Surfaces on Playgrounds

Impact protection surfaces are available in numerous materials and different designs—bark mulch, wood chips, sand, and gravel are just as much a part of it as rubber mats and seamless synthetic surfaces made of EPDM. In addition to the purchase price, the durability and maintenance intensity of the impact protection surfaces should definitely be considered, as well as their design potential. After all, nothing delights children's hearts more than a colorful or natural adventure playground where they can romp to their heart's content—thanks to impact protection without danger.