Playcraft Farm Sound Panel Insert R5, Installation Manual

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Playground Equipment Maintenance Guidelines
Page 3 of 13
Risk Management
Liability exposure concerns us all. Your role in decreasing this exposure begins with careful site selection,
proper play surface preparation, and correct equipment installation. Once your playground is put into
service your obligation continues with an ongoing maintenance program.
ln-service training of your maintenance staff, a systematic and documented program for inspection of the
site and equipment, procedures for immediate maintenance and repair, plus meaningful recordkeeping
are indispensable steps in providing a safe playground environment for the users.
WARNING!
lf you feel for any reason that any part of your playground, equipment, or
surfacing, is unsafe, do not allow access to the playground until your concern for safe play has
been satisfied.
Safety Inspection Forms / Maintenance Checklist
If you do not have a systematic playground inspection program now in place, we encourage you to start
one. You can use the suggested Playground Maintenance Safety Inspection Forms which accompany
this manual as a basis, or you can develop your own. Later in this document we also provide examples of
product specific maintenance check lists that should be included on your inspection forms.
Project: C & C Reference material on playground safety including performance standards for
equipment and loose fill ground cover can be found in the following publications.
ASTM (These publications are not free)
CPSC Handbook for Playground Safety
(This publication is free)
The American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM), has published two
related voluntary standards.
Standard F-1292 is entitled Standard Specifications
for Impact Attenuation Systems Under and Around
Playground Equipment. Standard F-1487 is entitled
Standard Consumer Safety Performance
Specification for Playground Equipment for Public
Use.
For copies of these publications contact:
ASTM Customer Service
1915 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Telephone 215-299-5585
U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission Office of
Information and Public Affairs
Washington, D.C. 20207
or Call Toll Free Hot-Line 1-800-638-2772
or Visit the CPSC web site at www.cpsc.gov
Safety Surfacing
Falling onto a hard surface has always been the most frequent cause of severe playground injuries, and
while the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) strongly supports safety surfacing, it has
stopped short of banning unforgiving surfaces, The choice of surfacing materials is the primary factor in
playground safety, and is solely the responsibility of the playground owner.
The CPSC Handbook includes an appendix entitled, “Summary Characteristics of Organic and Inorganic
Loose Fill Materials, and Unitary Synthetic materials”. It presents an evaluation of the fall absorbing
characteristics of several commonly used safety surfacing materials (i.e. wood chips, bark mulch, sand,
pea gravel, shredded rubber, rubber matting, etc,).
This appendix also deals with the advantages and disadvantages of each surface material, including
installation and maintenance requirements. All safety surfacing materials will require maintenance. We
urge you to seek professional guidance in evaluating safety surfacing for your particular application.