Every Swing Should Have a Swing Mat

Extend the Life of Your Safety Surfacing For years, playground owners and operators have been installing swing mats under swings and other high impact areas, like the bottom of slides, where loose-fill surfacing, either engineered wood fiber, EWF, or loose-fill rubber mulch, is likely to be displaced by little feet kicking out the surfacing in the high impact areas.

If you are not using swing mats under your swing areas, consider this common risk management tool for extending the life of your loose-fill surfacing and weed barrier. Premature aging, unsightly water puddles that can harbor bugs and most importantly, removing the potential of injury to a child is the key goal of this.

The CPSC document 325, Public Playground Safety Handbook from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission offers insight on how to install these mats. Refer to Table 2 - Minimum compressed loose-fill surfacing depths calls out for impact mats under swings and gives specific instructions on how to place them.

Of course, even with these mats in place, regular maintenance is still necessary to keep the loose-fill in place and avoid undue exposure of the bare ground within the safety use zone.

LuckyDog Recreation makes it easy to purchase swing wear mats by the pallet (25 shipped direct) or individually. Wear mats are economical, super sturdy, come in a rainbow of colors. Reach out to your LuckyDog Creative Play Designer today: 800-388-2196