British Standards for Safety: What are the BS EN rules?
Although not a legal requirement in the UK, the British (BS) and European (EN) standards for safety surfacing are good practice for any outdoor development. PlaySmart goes above and beyond to meet these important safety standards with our top-quality range of safety surfaces.
Health and safety standards take many forms in the outdoor development and landscaping sector. A smart choice of surface can help avoid and limit the multiple hazards and risks that can arise in a shared outdoor space like a playground or sports area.
Why are Safety Standards Important?
Our mission here at PlaySmart is to ensure that playgrounds, sports areas, and any other type of outdoor area across the UK are able to provide guarantees for a safe, stable, and useful surface for play and activity. Additionally, we design our surfaces for guaranteed longevity. Therefore, the quality and safety we provide can last for a number of years of use.
PlaySmart’s surfacing is independently tested and certified by the experts at Labosport to meet all relevant standards. This includes fall protection under BS EN 1177, slip resistance and surface grip tested to BS 7188, and installation standards to BS 1176, as well as other more specialised hazard reduction standards across our wide range of surfacing solutions.
BS EN 1177- Impact Attenuating Surfacing
British Standard EN 1177 is based on a surface’s ability to effectively provide impact protection. The goal of this standard is to reduce the risks of injury for users of outdoor play or fitness equipment.
Each safety surface product is tested by independent assessors to determine a Critical Fall Height, which is the maximum distance to fall from the highest point of each piece of equipment. The safety surface should effectively reduce the risk of fall injury within the Critical Fall Height Area, as determined by on-site drop tests to determine quality above an acceptable level of protection.
Initial tests of our surfaces required by BS EN 1177 use a concrete base. Then, later grass base tests outside of a lab setting show the real critical fall height protection they provide. Durable safety surfacing needs to be effective in all conditions, year-round, so testing includes drop tests on wet and dry soil and various sub-bases to ensure it remains safe to play.
BS 7188- Safety Standards
BS 7188 is a comprehensive safety standard that tests for the durability of surfaces in a variety of ways. This overview article provides the safety surfacing requirements in more detail. However, the key safety elements for the majority of outdoor areas include slip resistance and tensile properties.
The slip resistance score achieved during slip-resistance testing should be under 40. This score indicates a high level of friction, meaning it is suitable for a range of activities including sports and play to occur on the surface.
Tensile strength is an important property of rubber surfacing to test to ensure equal shock absorption and flexing action throughout the surface. The upper layer of a rubber surface, as a hard, exposed surface, should have a tensile strength above 0.4 MPa and over 75% elongation before breakage. However, a lower layer provides support and a cushioning effect should have a tensile strength above 0.1 MPa and over a 25% elongation at break.
BS 1176- Installation Standards
Standards for surface installation determine the reliability of the surface itself to meet other BS EN rulings. For example, BS 1176 requires appropriate installation of the surfacing around equipment to match the area of critical fall height protection needed for BS EN 1177 certification.
Surfaces should always be installed to the specifications that are both certified by these BS 1176 rules, and that match the site plans in the design documents. Our expert team of installers can install a wide variety of rubber mulch, wet-pour rubber, and mat surfacing to meet these requirements.
For our rubber mats, PlaySmart even has a trademarked installation process that guarantees that all appropriate safety precautions. This means that the mats remain stable and useful for longer, even with heavy wear over time.
BS 7044- Fire Proofing
Under BS 7044, surface durability standards for artificial sports surfaces, PlaySmart’s specially designed fire-proof mats, FireSmart, demonstrate exceptional fire protection. The standard defines fire-retardant mats as self-extinguishing within 60 seconds of ignition, which our mats achieve in a range of conditions.
Create an Outdoor Space that is Safe to Play with PlaySmart’s Safety Surfacing
Discover your options to upgrade the safety of your outdoor spaces by getting in touch with our team or requesting your Free Quick Quote on our contact page.
