Abstract:
All existing playground safety standards throughout the world limit the maximum impact
caused by a fall to a deceleration of 200g and/or a Head Injury Criteria (HIC) of 1000. These
limits are based on extensive research and aim to reduce deaths and permanent injuries due to
head related impacts. These limits were never intended to prevent injuries such as long bone
injuries.
This paper discusses in lay person's terms the impact forces involved when a child falls from
play equipment onto the undersurfacing material. It also discusses the existing playground
undersurfacing test methods for the measurement of impact attenuation and asks the questionas to whether these test methods adequately measure the forces associated with bounce. The
author proposes an additional criterion be included in all impact attenuation tests to measure
and limit the forces associated with bounce.
