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By Kathy Hunt
Oct 31, 2025
Remember the boundless joy you felt as a kid, wooshing down a slide or soaring high on a swing? The rush when your hand grasped the final rung of a horizontal climber or “monkey bar”? Whether at recess, in a public park, or in the backyard, exuberance and energy run free on a playground.
Although humankind has long played outdoors, the first dedicated, outdoor recreational space for children dates back to mid-1800s Germany. This was the time of educator and reformer Friedrich Froebel, founder of the German kindergarten movement. Believing play to be an integral part of childhood development, he set up sandboxes as safe spaces for children to play and explore. His initiative eventually inspired physician Dr. Marie Zakrzewska and the Massachusetts Emergency and Hygiene Association to introduce the first of 21 “sand gardens” in Boston, MA, in 1886.
By the late 1800s, Manchester, UK, had established what is considered Europe’s original playground, with swings and badminton for children, at Peel Park. Back in North America, in 1888, San Francisco unveiled its Children’s Playground in Golden Gate Park. Frequently cited as America’s first playground, it featured see-saws, merry-go-rounds, and goat-pulled carts.
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In 1905, U.S. social reformer and political activist Jane Addams helped found the Playground Association of America, which promoted the benefits of playgrounds, in particular for children living in urban areas. The organization also set up training programs for the design and construction of playgrounds that encouraged health, fitness, and socialization through play. Through the association, playground directors and supervisors received instruction on such crucial topics as child development, play theory, and playground management.
Tom Norquist, senior vice president of PlayCore, points to nature as the inspiration for playgrounds. Norquist is also a professor of practice at Auburn University’s School of Industrial and Graphic Design in Alabama, and a member of the committee on consumer products (F15).
“Children who play in nature learn naturally how to make cognitive decisions on levels of risk: ‘Should I cross that log that goes across that creek? Should I hold on with all fours or run across with my feet? Can I slide down that hill? Do I need a piece of cardboard to do it? Can I climb that tree?’” Norquist says. “When I start thinking of playgrounds and elements of risk, I think of the different activities that I would do out in nature. For children who live in urban environments, playgrounds mimic nature and emulate play carried out there.”
Scores of reports indicate the positive impact of play, particularly risky play, for a child’s physical and cognitive development. Studies also point out the importance of playgrounds in increasing physical activity and socialization. Even so, parents and other parties have voiced concerns about playgrounds and the likelihood of injury from them. The question of how to balance the fostering of strength, confidence, skill-building, and fun, while maintaining a child’s safety and well-being, is one that ASTM International’s subcommittee on playground equipment for public use (F15.29) faces every day. A subset of the committee on consumer products, the group has gathered together members of industry, academia, government, park planning, consumers, and others to address this challenge.
In the early 1980s, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published its first Handbook for Public Playground Safety. Its current edition cites 11 ASTM standards, including F15.29’s standard consumer safety performance specification for playground equipment for public use (F1487). Written to support an array of playground equipment for children ages 2 to 12, the standard includes dimensional requirements for clearance and use zones. These zones must be free from obstacles and have impact-attenuating surfacing, such as engineered wood fiber or recycled rubber products, around playground equipment. Impact attenuation of surfacing materials within the use zone of playground equipment is covered in the standard specification for impact attenuation of surfacing materials within the use zone of playground equipment (F1292) from the subcommittee on playground surfacing systems (F08.63).
The consumer safety performance specification does not include home playground equipment, toys, amusement rides, sports equipment, fitness equipment intended for users over the age of 12, and soft-contained play equipment. Public-use play equipment for children 6 to 24 months is covered under the standard consumer safety performance specification for public use play equipment for children 6 months through 23 months (F2373) from the subcommittee on playground equipment for public use (F15.29).
Presently, the subcommittee has 17 work items under F1487. Many relate to the risk associated with a particular play item and its developmental benefits. This is known as the benefit-risk assessment of a play item or area.
For several decades, the CPSC has cited falling as the main cause of playground injuries. In an effort to prevent serious harm, the subcommittee has introduced a work item (WK81117) to reduce the risk of falling from the exterior of tall playground structures, or towers, and enclosed slides.
In recent years, towers have increased in height, with some rising 30 feet from the ground. Experts point out that these towers are also fully enclosed, which reduces the risk of falling. The biggest danger arises when children improperly use the equipment and attempt to scale towers and slides from the outside.
“We’re seeing kids grab onto, or use as foot supports, the flanges of sectional tube slides to walk or climb up the outside of the enclosed slide,” says F15.29 subcommitte chair Ken Kutska. “Designers say, ‘You can’t fall out of our slides or our towers,’ but the reality is that kids can climb the outside of, and fall from, both.”
Fall height is defined by ASTM standards as the vertical distance between a designated play surface and the protective ground surface beneath. With protective surfacing in place, most playground equipment has a maximum fall height of 72 inches for children ages 5 to 12. According to the CPSC, for children ages 2 to 5, the limit is 60 inches, and for toddlers, it is less than 32 inches.
New standards for playgrounds will help reduce the risk of falls.
“We put in performance requirements for what constitutes a tube slide that would be less likely to be climbed and extended the 72-inch minimum use-zone to extend past the slide guard, side of the guard, and exit of the slide,” Kutska says. “Here, fall height is measured from the highest point of access and egress on the tower or slide.”
For over 30 years, Kutska served as the director of parks and planning in Wheaton, IL. Upon retiring, he became the executive director of the International Playground Safety Institute, LLC.
He says the new requirement (WK81117) will allow designers to consider minimizing the overall fall height and use-zone requirements when a slide meets all its requirements and the tower meets all the enclosed structure access zones. Access zones are not permitted to have openings larger than 1.75 inches wide unless the opening height is less than an inch. These measurements prohibit children from inserting either their hands or feet into an opening, which would assist them in climbing the equipment.
Quality control is important in any field. When F1487 was introduced in the 1980s, playground equipment consisted primarily of wood and steel. Over the decades, equipment made from fiberglass, plastics, and rubber has become more prevalent. With this shift in materials has come the need to revise this standard as well as the previously mentioned F2373.
“As these products are used over time, we’ve seen what wear-and-tear and the elements do to them, and have made changes to address this,” says subcommittee vice chair Teresa Hendy. “We’re constantly monitoring injury statistics, and we work closely with the CPSC. If the CPSC starts seeing a trend around injuries, they will bring it to our attention. If we haven’t already noticed and addressed it, we will make modifications.”
She adds there has been an increase in international producers wishing to sell their play products in the U.S. She notes that European standards differ slightly from those in the U.S., with some being more stringent and others more lenient. This complicates the introduction of their equipment to overseas markets. As an example, she cites European slides, which are steeper than the U.S. permits.
Hendy, a retired design and safety consultant for the playground industry, says the group is clarifying terminology relating to sliding surface. It is also evaluating how its slide standards compare to those in Europe and Australia.
“The industry is seeing an increase in demand for tall towers with longer slides. Children enjoy higher slides because they’re longer and faster,” she says. “We are revising sections of our standard to address potential hazards associated with these taller structures.”
In addition to slides, one work item covers a requirement for small ground bouncers (WK94702). Smaller than a trampoline and installed flush with the ground, bouncers provide the same reaction no matter where someone bounces. With a bouncer, the likelihood of being catapulted into the air is removed and the risk of falling is reduced. Among the work item’s topics for discussion is how large the use zone for bouncers should be.
Another new feature in playgrounds is the presence of play mounds. These artificial structures simulate the experience of running and playing on earthen hills and inclines and may take the form of an embankment, mound, or bump. As with natural, elevated landforms, children run the risk of slipping or tripping and hurting themselves on play mounds. With this in mind, the subcommittee has drafted a work item (WK84464) to address whether or not play mounds need to absorb the energy from a fall.
Other considerations for play mounds include the slope and the angle someone can walk or run down without having a handrail and/or proper footwear. Weather also plays a role in mound safety.
If a child slips while running up or down a dew- or rain-slicked mound, without (or even with) proper footwear, consideration must be given to how hard the fall will be and into what objects the child might fall.
“The standard isn’t trying to prevent a broken finger or sprained arm. It’s trying to prevent life-debilitating injuries,” says Norquist, who is also the president of the National Institute for Play, which looks at the science of play. “With F1487, we’re trying to eliminate injuries caused by hazards, things that a child may not see or expect, while still affording the child a chance to make choices, take risks, and develop skills.”
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Along with falls, another hazard covered by this standard is entrapments. These are openings where a child might get stuck or have clothing caught or tangled, which could result in strangulation.
“Our standard is the foundation,” Kutska says. “Designers can always try to do their best to minimize potential safety concerns, but the owner has the final
say as to what kind of equipment they choose to purchase and what type of impact attenuating surface performance they desire under and around their playground equipment.”
Having equipment properly installed and maintained is essential for the safety of playground consumers. It’s equally important for the owner-operator, who may face legal action if a child sustains an injury on the playground due to poor installation or maintenance. To help ensure that playground-equipment installers receive adequate training, the subcommittee created the standard guide for certification of recreation area installers (F3699). It outlines the knowledge and training requirements for recreation-area installers and can help create or evaluate an installer training course. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the equipment manufacturer’s and/or certification provider’s materials. However, even if someone meets the recommendations of this guide, it does not mean that the person possesses the skills, experience, and training required to make critical decisions.
As innovations in playground equipment continue, so does the work of the subcommittee on playground equipment for public use (F15.29).
“I know for a fact, and deep down in my soul, that we’ve made playgrounds safer,” says Hendy, who has helped develop F1487 since 1988. “We’ve eliminated the major hazards and major causes of fatalities and seriously debilitating injuries.”
Norquist adds, “It’s remarkable the work that ASTM has done and how far a group of volunteers has come to allow developmentally appropriate playground equipment while still maintaining a much higher level of safety.”
In addition to more work, more involvement from people who represent the end user will also be needed, says Kutska. Like Hendy, he has been part of the subcommittee since its inception.
To join these efforts or receive additional information on the subcommittee, contact staff manager Molly Lynyak at mlynyak@astm.org. ●
November / December 2025
