Safety in Mind

Life Floor’s versatile installations.

Jonathan Keller accounts for the evolution of splash pad safety surfaces

Recent decades have seen playgrounds around the world evolve to offer ever improving levels of safety, driven by regulations and standards.

Protection from needless accidents was driven in the USA by the publication in 1981 of the Handbook for Public Playground Safety while in Australia, with industry input, Standards Australia have driven an ongoing reduction in playground risks.

As a result, the equipment in playgrounds of yesteryear is barely recognisable when compared to those of today.

Less noticeable, but no less significant, have been developments in impact absorbing surfacing for playgrounds, with no playground today built without safety surfacing - whether it is woodchips, rubberised cushioning or shredded rubber, each facility has safety in mind. Splash pad surfacing Splash pads, essentially playgrounds with water features, have appeared in many communities over the last 25 years as a unique aquatic adaptation and alternative to traditional playgrounds.

However, splash pad safety standards have lagged behind those of ‘dry’ playgrounds by having poor safety features and sometimes less than inspiring designs.

An example of this saw many early splash pads utilising concrete as a surface, even though concrete is inherently abrasive, dull, and unforgiving to accidental slip and falls. While concrete is one of the most budget-friendly materials to use, it does not ultimately provide superior safety and design benefits for guests engaging with facilities.

As Briana Massie, Marketing Manager at Life Floor, explains “childhood is a time of limitless imagination, boundless creativity, and wild invention. It’s the one time in life when exploration is encouraged freely without the weight of daily responsibilities other than formal learning and helping with chores.

“The freedom of being young displays itself in many ways, one of which is free play. Free play is critical to a child’s development. It enables them to problem solve, think critically, develop stories, and innovate. One method of free play continues to evolve as children explore aquatic environments, such as splash pads.”

Traditionally, surfacing has been overlooked in aquatic facilities, often being seen as a strictly useful part of the facility that only functions as a foundation for the features to rest on.

However, as the aquatics industry matures, increasingly more facility owners and operators are realising that this foundation can be capitalised on.

That blank slate of concrete can be transformed into an engaging, colourful, beautifully designed space that enhances play value while increasing safety features simultaneously. Elevating design includes enhanced theming to match the facility, incorporating play elements that encourage new ways of play while utilising every surface.

Kelsi Goss, Life Floor’s Vice President of Design, notes “splash pads can enhance guest experience by including games in the surface design.

Life Floor installations at (clockwise from above left): Six Flags White Water, USA; Sugarworld, Cairns; Hills Swimming and Australia Zoo.

“Hopscotch boards, four square configurations, and Twisterlike layouts can all be used to add extra activities to the aquatic play area. Giant mazes could also engage guests in new ways. These flooring features can add play value to a surface that may have otherwise been left blank.”

In 2019, NSF/ANSI Standard 50 was published by NSF International for Interactive Water Play Venue Surfacing Systems. NSF/ANSI Standard 50 concludes that for a surface to be considered appropriate for splash pad surfacing, it must meet or exceed six unique performance-based requirements including: slip-resistance, impact attenuation, chemical resistance, UV resistance, impermeability and cleanability. Currently, Life Floor is the only safety surface that has become certified to this standard.

Slip-resistance is one of the most critical facets of the standard since it directly influences all manners of interaction with a splash pad, even the most cautious of play.

‘No Running’ is a rule everyone has grown up with at swimming pools, yet most children don’t listen and run anyway.

To meet Slip-Resistance criteria, a surface must enable all samples tested to achieve a minimum P4 rating (i.e., a British Pendulum Number, BPM, or slip resistance value, SRV, of 40 or greater) when tested in accordance with AS 4586-2013.

Life Floor exceeds this criteria by receiving a P5 rating as defined by the British Pendulum test according to the Australian Standard.

Impact attenuation is another feature directly influencing how guests interact with the space.

Common injuries in aquatics include concussions and split heads which typically result from impact after a fall. Additionally, as lifeguards can attest, standing or walking on concrete for long periods of time is fatiguing and painful. For surfaces to meet Impact Attenuation criteria, The Head Injury Criterion (HIC) value used to calculate the critical fall height must be equal to or less than 750. The measured critical fall height rating must be at least 20cm. Concrete has a 10cm critical fall height with 1000 HIC. The lower the HIC number, the less damage is done. Life Floor exceeded this criteria. Life Floor’s 9.5mm tile surpassed 20cm with an average HIC rating of 74. You read that right: 74.

Chemical and UV resistance equally influence the integrity of the safety surface and are both relatively beyond an operator’s control. Keeping a facility in chemical equilibrium is key to extending the life of the facility’s features, but shocks are occasionally needed in the case of a foreign substance such as human waste or plant fertiliser run-off. UV Resistance is key in environments such as Australia and the Arabian Gulf where the sun is more intense so that the surface doesn’t wear down as quickly.

To meet UV Resistance and Chemical Resistance criteria, the product must maintain contrasting colours (such as for safety messaging) and it must maintain performance on Slip-Resistance and Impact Attenuation tests after the Chemical Resistance and UV Resistance tests, but minor damage is acceptable if both of the above points succeed. Minor damage may look like small surface cracks, but the surfacing product needs to still perform well even with them. Life Floor met both of these criteria and maintained Slip-Resistant and Impact Absorbing qualities. The samples did show minor surface cracking, but this did not interfere with the product’s safety promise.

Impermeability is a crucial component to the health and sanitation of a facility. It is important for facility operators to keep hygiene in mind so that guests aren’t exposed to harmful viruses or bacteria. Having an impermeable product means that fertilizer run-off, human waste, sunscreen, bug spray, and other adverse materials will not soak into the surface.

According to the NSF/ANSI Standard 50, a surface must be at least as impermeable as concrete, which is rated at 97.4% impervious, based on how much water a sample may absorb over 24 hours. If the average change in mass of the samples does not exceed 2.5%, the product is accepted.

However, the less absorbent the product is, the safer the surface is since it prevents harmful exposure to guests and the easier it is to clean. Life Floor exceeds this criteria, being rated

99.7% impervious. The edges of Life Floor’s tiles were included in this test for complete testing.

Cleanability is an important part of the safety surface because if a surface isn’t able to be cleaned, it won’t work for a facility to implement. During testing for the NSF/ANSI Standard 50, two common microorganisms found in aquatic environments were included in the test.

Enterococcus faecium ATCC 6569 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27313. The standard states that “the percentage reduction of the treated test carrier density shall be 99.9% or greater when compared to the control carrier density.”

This is essential especially now in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic since surface cleanliness is at the forefront of the end-consumer’s mind. Parents and guardians want to ensure the safety of their children, so having an easily cleanable surface is paramount.

Life Floor met this criteria which means 99.9% of microorganisms were removed from the tile which means Life Floor does not support microbial growth.

It is in a facility’s best interests to adhere to NSF International standards in terms of both operational excellence and risk mitigation. Especially relevant to operators, meeting NSF standards for sanitation, health, and safety provide facilities additional protection from potential lawsuits.

The NSF/ANSI Standard 50 reduces the chance of injuries, however, should an injury occur, operators can point to the fact that they were operating under the best and safest practices in the industry. It is problematic to the operator legally should an injury occur in their facility that could have been avoided had the standard been followed.

This is especially true if NSF standards are followed in other areas of the facility. On a product level, using NSF/ANSI 50 certified products takes the guesswork out of finding safe,

Life Floor installations at Shawn’s Swim School, Hoppers Crossing.

high-performing products and services for aquatic operators. Independent testing ensures that a product with NSF certification can be trusted to serve public health.

As Grant Burgess, Life Floor Sales Manager Australia & New Zealand, concludes “concrete and other conventionallysurfaced splash pads have always put restrictions on play.

“Running, jumping, rolling - these activities could be dangerous, or at least very uncomfortable, on a hard, abrasive floor.

“On Life Floor splash pads, we’ve seen kids run, jump, roll, wrestle, tumble, do handstands, all while playing in water. Safety surfacing encourages kids to spend more time on splash pads, exploring, connecting, and playing just the way they want to.” Note: The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) is a global independent public health and environmental organisation, while the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) oversees the consensus for developing standards for manufacturing and procedures in the USA. Jonathan Keller is Chief Executive and joint founder of Life Floor.

SURF’S UP with the Beach Themed Waterpark at Shelly Beach Holiday Park (NSW)

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