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2016 | LAPPSET PLAY eng

Safety zones and floor materials A large percentage of accidents on playgrounds are the result of play. This is why not all accidents can be prevented. The most important thing in terms of safety is to remember that playgrounds consist of a lot more than just the equipment. All products need to be surrounded by a safety zone in any areas where the potential fall height is more than 600 mm or where a part of the product involves momentum, and this area needs to have shock-absorbing safety surfacing. Although safety surfacing cannot prevent accidents, it does protect children from serious head injuries and lowers the severity of other injuries as well. Instructions for the dimensions and overlap of safety zones and for choosing floor materials are included in international standards. The safety zones of adjoining equipment can overlap as long as there is no momentum involved in using the products like there is with swings, roundabouts and slides, for example. Safety standards do not apply to benches, tables and rubbish bins located in the vicinity of playground equipment. However, such items should never be installed within a safety zone, or so that they can be easily moved, or (as Tukes points out) so that they can be used for climbing into a tree or over a fence. As long as the target group is kept in mind during playground design, the most serious risks associated with these structures can nevertheless also be avoided. According to Tukes guidelines, a playground must be provided with a fence 120 cm high if there are risks in the surroundings (such as busy roads or a lake or a river) that children need to be protected from. Combining play and fitness environments Lappset has a solid understanding of how play and fitness environments can be combined without compromising the needs of either user group. Combining areas designed for different purposes is yet another step towards a future where playgrounds genuinely function as meeting places for three different generations. You can find more detailed information on how to combine playgrounds and sports areas on the www.lappset.com website. Installation Appropriate fencing is erected around playgrounds during construction. All construction sites are firmly locked up especially in the evenings and overnight. Children are prevented from entering playgrounds until all equipment has been securely installed and safety surfacing laid down. Calculating safety zones and measuring gaps between structural components is very important for safety. The structural strength of a product is a combination of its components and joints. This is why installation staff needs to have sufficient know-how of the tightening torques of different sized fasteners. Excessive tightening damages fastenings and may compromise the structural strength of a product even before it is ready for use. All equipment and the surrounding area are inspected by competent staff before a playground is opened to the public. A signed report is produced of each inspection and kept with other documents relating to the playground, including instructions for installation, parts lists and maintenance logs. Inspectors should not be involved in the installation process or be personally responsible for the costs of repairing any faults in the equipment. Old playgrounds In principle, safety standards only apply to products installed after the adoption of the standards. The EN 1176 and EN 1177 safety standards entered into force in 2008, and any equipment 194


2016 | LAPPSET PLAY eng
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