Canadian Playground Advisory Standards
Canadian Playground Advisory Inc. has been actively involved in the standards writing process since 1990 with participation on the CSA Technical Committee on Children's Playspaces and Equipment. Although committee members participate in all of the activities, the specialty has been on the topics of protective surfacing, fall heights and accessibility. Through these efforts testing of installed surfaces in the field on a periodic basis, determination of fall heights from the tops of barriers for composite structures, introduction of net structures, measurements of string entanglements and the accessibility of playground have been championed by our activities.
Canadian Playground Advisory Inc. is proud to have participated in the ASTM Standards process since the mid 1990s. During that time our involvement has been in the championing of the Free-Fall drop test device for ASTM F1292 and the advancement of testing of installed surfaces in the field and gathering of data to help the owner of playground surfaces to determine the value of their inventory. Other achievements of the F08.63 playground sub-committee have been the development of a guide for poured-in-place surfacing that should go far to educate manufacturers and owners alike. Other work is the lead on the ASTM F2157 running track standard, for which Rolf Huber received an award of appreciation from the ASTM F08 committee. Other committees that have been participated in are wrestling mats, martial arts mats, playing surfaces and artificial turf. All of these sub-committees have and involvement with impact attenuation performance of the surface to the user.
Canadian Playground Advisory has worked of many years with the US Access-Board and other accessibility advocates on the promotion of the playground aspect of the ADA. We are very proud that on September 15, 2010 the US Department of Justice published the 2010 ADA Standards, which does include playgrounds and the compliance of the surface to the requirements of ASTM F1292. We look forward to assisting in the advancement of this Standard with various agencies of the US government and owner/operators of playgrounds over the coming years Surfacing Standards are important in providing a better quality of life for the users of the surfaces and those that care for their continued participation is activities and the prevention of injuries. Canadian Playground Advisory Inc. has been and continues to be involved in the development of new standards and the improvement of current ones. It is through this commitment that proposals for lower Gmax and HIC values are being promoted in the areas of playground surfacing and artificial turf for athletic fields.
