A Quick Guide To Playground BSEN Safety Standards
What Are The Playground British and European Standards (BSEN)?
Not necessarily legal requirements, but technical standards for ensuring play equipment is installed within all reasonable expectations of law – limiting potential situations of litigation with the certainty that all probable risks were mitigated. Implementation of them is done as part of a larger risk assessment and DOES NOT GUARANTEE a playground is safe.
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Older Standards: Although all new outdoor play equipment should meet the BSEN standards, it doesn’t automatically mean any existing installations predating them are not safe and need tearing down. While it is likely older items were designed to meet former regulations BS 5696 or DIN 7926, to ensure a firmer legal standing it is best to carry out a fresh risk assessment.
BS 7188: Concerns impact absorption testing and performance obligations of synthetic surfaces. By adhering to it, surfacing is likely to be resistant to slipping, indentation, ignition, and abrasive wear.
BSEN 1177: The reduction of serious harm by falls of differing heights – determines how deep safety surfacing needs to be by testing impact absorption abilities relative to distance of potential falls.
BSEN 1176: The safety of permanently installed outdoor equipment and surfacing which does not require staffing. It doesn’t include ancillary pieces such as benches, litterbins, and fences. Items made for the domestic market are not covered either (they fall under EN 71 and The Toy Directive).
Labelling: Play equipment needs to be permanently marked with information regarding the year to which BSEN 1176 standard it is conforming to, the manufacturer or authorised agent (which in this case would be Creative Play), and equipment reference number.
Most Common Playground Safety Concerns Of BSEN Standards
Playing Surface: The material and depth of playground surfacing required to meet BSEN safety standard is closely linked to the height of play equipment.
While grass, and even harder surfaces such as tarmac, may be acceptable for shorter static play equipment (less than 600mm tall), most need surfacing which feature a suitably incremental level of impact attenuation (a material and depth which has been tested for reducing the impact of a fall).
Several types of materials are suitable as surfacing, including grass reinforcement mats, wet pour, loose-fill options, and others. The required depth of these materials is determined by their density in relation to the height of the equipment they are supporting (a calculation needs to be made). For instance, loose-fill materials such as bark chippings, need to be deeper than other types to accommodate for displacement and compaction.
Space Requirements: BSEN has a minimum space requirement, which consists of 3 parts:
- The space taken up by the play equipment.
- The free space, which is applied wherever there is forced movement (such as the area covered by the pendulum movement of a swing). They cannot overlap with other spaces.
- The falling space, an area where a child could potentially fall from (a part of equipment designed for them to occupy, not necessarily the highest part) and the ground.
Free Space: The area in which forced movement occurs. These areas need to discourage traffic, so there should not be any obvious, clear path through it for children to go through to get somewhere else / access another piece of play equipment.
Forced Movement: A motion such as rotating, swinging or sliding in which, by design, the user is committed to continuing once they start moving.
Falling Space: The space between the part of the equipment a child can fall from and the ground. To prevent injury, no obstacles are allowed in the falling space, however some structural parts of equipment are an exception (platforms over 1 metre tall must be tested for impact absorbency).
Free Height Of Fall: Also sometimes referred to as Critical Fall Height. This is the distance between an easily accessible, intended-for-use point of height on equipment, and the potential area of impact resulting from a fall. Although calculated with various body positions in mind, (standing, sitting, hanging, climbing), the maximum free height of fall must never exceed 3 metres.
Adequate Level Of Impact Attenuation: A surface which features the correct level of impact attenuation (reduction in impact force) for the relevant free height of fall. This is achieved by laying the correct depth for the distance of falling and surface material.
Clusters: Separate items of equipment designed to be grouped together – space between them must be age appropriate (500mm or less allowing continuous movement), and free of falls exceeding 600mm.
Slides: Type One slides require 1 metre of space either side and 2 metres at the run-off (the end of the slide, where the user slows down and gets off).
Grip And Grasp: The Grip is a part of equipment which a child needs to hold to support their weight. The Grasp is a part they need to hold on to for balance. All grips must be 16 – 45mm in diameter, while grasps are permitted up to a maximum of 600mm.
What Playground Operators Need To Do For Full BSEN Standards Compliance
Inspections: All playgrounds require a risk assessment (The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999) conducted by someone accredited by the RPII. An inspection needs to be conducted immediately following installation on a new or refurbished site, preferably before granting access to the public. Beyond that, the Safety Standards recommend 3 further inspections:
- Routine Visual Inspections: Daily / weekly operator inspection ensuring it is up to standard.
- Operational Inspections: Once every month / 3 months to check on the wear and tear.
- Annual Inspections: Examination of the overall area ensuring it is still BSEN compliant.
Essential Documentation – Operators need to possess the following records for their playground:
- Certificate of tests or compliance with standards
- Instructions for inspections and maintenance
- Operating instructions provided by the equipment supplier
- Operator’s own inspection and maintenance recommendations
- The design and tender paperwork
Playground Operator Personnel – They need to be suitably competent for looking after playgrounds:
- Staff must be trained to run a playground
- Responsibilities of personnel need to be made clear
- Personnel should be provided with adequate information about equipment
- Only qualified people should carry out specialised tasks (such as welding)
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