Testing the impact attenuation of loose-fill playground surfaces.
OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to measure the impact attenuation performance of five types of loose-fill playground surfaces at a variety of drop heights, material depths, and conditions.


METHODS
In a laboratory setting, an instrumented head form was dropped on varying depths of loose-fill materials at one foot height increments until critical deceleration values were exceeded. The effects of test box size, material temperature, and compression were also studied.


RESULTS
Data suggest that a larger test box size influences test results. Uncompressed materials performed quite unexpectedly, that is, resilience did not necessarily increase with increasing depth of material and temperature did not have uniform effects. Compression before testing improved consistency of results.


CONCLUSIONS
The current standard test procedure (ASTM F1292) appears problematic for loose-fill materials. Our results indicate that (1) shredded rubber was the best performer; (2) there was little difference between sand, wood fibers, and wood chips; and (3) pea gravel had the worst performance, making it a poor choice for playground surfacing.
Mack
M G
MG
National Program for Playground Safety, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls 50614-0618, USA. playground-safety@uni.edu
Sacks
J J
JJ
Thompson
D
D
D000058:Accidental Falls; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D004867:Equipment Design; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D010988:Play and Playthings; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*