The Base of Play: Safety, Accessibility, Sustainability and Performance in Playground Surfacing

If you're interested in public parks, municipal recreation facilities, school grounds or inclusive play environments, join us to gain a clearer understanding of how playground surfacing decisions directly impact public health, safety and welfare, including injury prevention, accessibility and long-term performance.

Communities across the country are grappling with aging playground infrastructure, tightening budgets and growing expectations around inclusive design. This course won't just walk you through the standards — it will help you make better decisions when the standards meet reality.

Michael McGuffie, Mark Arigoni and Stephanie Lapham will provide an overview of the evolution of playground surfacing and the critical role it plays in protecting public health, safety and welfare. They will examine current playground surfacing safety requirements and performance standards intended to reduce injury risk, improve accessibility and support long-term durability in public play environments.

We'll review commonly accepted surfacing systems, key installation and maintenance considerations, and the challenges communities face in meeting universal accessibility expectations while balancing lifecycle cost and ongoing performance demands.

We'll also explore emerging materials and product technologies that help balance safety, accessibility, sustainability and affordability. Through a focus on real-world implementation pressures — including limited municipal budgets and ongoing maintenance demands — this session will give you practical guidance for selecting and evaluating playground surfacing solutions that support safe, inclusive and resilient public spaces.

Learning objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Explain how playground surfacing standards and specification decisions support public health, safety and welfare by reducing injury risk and improving safe play environments.
• Describe general playground surfacing safety requirements, performance expectations and applicable reference resources.
• Assess existing playground surfacing systems for potential hazards, durability concerns and limitations related to universal accessibility and inclusive play.
• Identify key health, safety and welfare best practices for specifying, installing and maintaining playground surfacing systems that remain safe and accessible over time.
• Evaluate how emerging products and surfacing technologies may improve impact attenuation, accessibility, maintenance efficiency, sustainability and long-term affordability.

Register now to learn practical strategies for evaluating surfacing systems, identifying maintenance risks, improving accessibility outcomes, and selecting cost-effective solutions.

1 PDH, LA CES/HSW.

*Virtual attendees who cannot attend in real time will have two weeks to watch the recording on demand and complete the course requirements.