Machinery and Devices for Lifting and Handling Materials and Persons

Playground, Sports and Other Recreational Equipment

How safe is playground and recreational equipment?

Good playground and recreational equipment should primarily have the following characteristics:

high playing quality
attractivity
safety

Playing quality and attractivity must be considered as early as during planning stage. Safety depends mainly on construction, but also on installation and arrangement on site.

Quite often attractive playground equipment with high playing quality entails dangers. Correct falling is a learning process. Injuries can always occur as 100% safety is hardly ever possible.

Safe playground and recreational equipment should fulfill the following criteria:

necessary structural integrity and stability
no dangerous traps and playing sequences with clearly recognizable dangers
the required free spaces and falling spaces
physio-chemical and mechanical examinations on site and in laboratories
metallographic examinations
impact attenuating surface depending on the free fall height
consequent management of inspection and maintenance

TUV Austria's experts render assistance in all related matters.

Contact Person

Ing. Robert Terp
Tel.: +43(1)514 07-6240
Fax: +43(1)514 07-6205
E-Mail: tp@tuv.at

Download: Article about health and safety