How we research
Which documents the pages are built from, and how each kind of claim is checked.
Short answer
Pages are built from primary documents: the CPSC Public Playground Safety Handbook, ASTM consensus standards, the 2010 ADA Standards and federal agency guidance. Cost figures are presented as ranges with a stated basis. Injury data is used only in ways the underlying sampling supports.
On this page
The documents pages are built from
Federal guidance. The CPSC Public Playground Safety Handbook, Publication 3251, is the base reference for use zones, fall heights, entrapment, protrusion and surfacing depth in US public playgrounds. It is free to download and it is guidance rather than law, a distinction pages here keep explicit.
Consensus standards. ASTM F1487 for public playground equipment, F1292 for impact attenuation, F2075 for engineered wood fiber, F1951 for surface accessibility, F1148 for home playground equipment, and the related standards listed in the standards directory. These are paid documents, so pages summarize requirements and name the standard rather than reproducing its text.
Accessibility law. The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design2, particularly section 240 for scoping and section 1008 for the technical requirements, alongside the US Access Board's guidance on play areas3.
Agency and public health sources for injury and activity data, including CPSC reporting and the national injury surveillance sampling it draws on.
International standards are named where readers outside the US need them: EN 1176 and EN 1177 in Europe, CSA Z614 in Canada, AS 4685 in Australia.
How each kind of claim is handled
| Claim type | How it is treated |
|---|---|
| A dimension or threshold | Traced to the standard or handbook, with edition named |
| A legal requirement | Attributed to the regulation, with who it applies to stated |
| A cost | A range, with year, region, and material-only or installed stated |
| An injury statistic | Attributed, with the sampling limitation stated in the same place |
| A design recommendation | Labeled as judgment, not as a requirement |
Checks before a page goes up
- Every internal link resolves. The site build fails if one does not, so a broken link cannot reach the published site.
- Every requirement has a named source and, where relevant, an edition.
- Every cost carries a year and a basis.
- Safety-critical dimensions are checked against the handbook or the standard, and where a figure could not be confirmed, the page describes the requirement qualitatively and points at the document instead.
- Pages that touch law, licensing or liability tell the reader who to ask.
What we would like you to tell us
Standards change and cost bases move. If a page cites a superseded edition, a figure has drifted, or a requirement is described in a way that would mislead someone signing off on a playground, that is worth an email. Corrections explains what to include and what happens next.
Frequently asked questions
Why do you cite a 2010 handbook?
Because the 2010 edition of the CPSC Public Playground Safety Handbook, Publication 325, is the current edition and the document most US inspectors and specifiers work from. Pages say which edition they describe so that a later revision does not silently invalidate what you read.
Are ASTM standards free to read?
No. ASTM consensus standards are copyrighted documents sold by ASTM International, which is why pages here summarize requirements and point you to the standard rather than reproducing it. Some standards can be read through a library, a professional body or a read-only viewing option.
Where do the cost ranges come from?
From published project costs, public bid and budget documents, market rate information and the observable spread in installed pricing, expressed as a range with the year and basis stated. They are planning figures for comparing options, not quotes, and regional variation is wide.
Sources
- 1Public Playground Safety Handbook. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2010Publication 325
- 22010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. US Department of JusticeSections 240 and 1008 cover play areas
- 3Guide to the ADA Standards, Chapter 10: Play Areas. US Access BoardPlain language explanation of the technical requirements