Certifications and Partners

Everyone in this industry says their equipment is certified. This page explains what each certification actually covers, what it does not, and how to check a claim yourself rather than take our word for it.

ASTM F1487

The consensus safety performance standard for public playground equipment in the United States. It covers entrapment, protrusions, entanglement, guardrail and barrier heights, use zones and structural integrity. It is revised periodically, so the version matters. Equipment certified to an older revision is not automatically non-compliant, but you should know which revision you are buying, and a supplier who cannot tell you is a supplier worth questioning. We cite the version on every product page.

CPSC Public Playground Safety Handbook, Publication 325

Guidance from the Consumer Product Safety Commission rather than a standard. It is not law in itself, but many states adopt it by reference for licensed childcare, and insurers and courts treat it as the baseline for reasonable care. It is free to download and worth reading before you buy anything, particularly the sections on use zones and surfacing depth.

IPEMA certification

The International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association runs a third party product certification programme. A validated product has been tested by an independent laboratory against ASTM F1487, and the certification is verifiable in IPEMA's public register. This is the single most useful check you can make: search the register for the manufacturer and model yourself. If a product is not listed, ask why before you assume it is an oversight.

ADA and the ABA accessibility guidelines for play areas

Federal accessibility requirements set minimum counts of accessible play components at ground and elevated level, scaled to the size of the structure, and require an accessible route to reach them. Two things routinely go wrong. First, people count components but forget the route. Second, the surfacing on that route has to be firm, stable and slip resistant, and a great deal of loose fill stops being any of those once it has been used and compacted. Every product page here shows the accessible component counts provided against the counts required.

ASTM F1292 and surfacing

The impact attenuation standard for playground surfacing. Your critical fall height determines the surfacing type and depth you need, which is why we publish the fall height on every product rather than leaving you to ask. Surfacing is also the part of a playground that degrades, so a system that passed on installation day may not pass in year four. Test it periodically.

Certified Playground Safety Inspector

The National Recreation and Park Association certifies individuals, not products, as CPSI. A CPSI can inspect an installation against the standards and issue a report. Ask whether your installer holds the certification, and budget for an independent inspection after installation. It is inexpensive and it is the document you will want if anything is ever questioned.

What certification does not mean

• It does not mean the equipment is right for your age group. A certified five to twelve structure is still wrong in a toddler yard.
• It does not mean it will fit. Certification says nothing about whether your safety use zone clears your fence line.
• It does not cover installation. A certified product installed badly is not a compliant playground.
• It does not cover surfacing depth on the day someone falls. That is maintenance, and it is yours.

What we require of the manufacturers we represent

Before we list a manufacturer's catalogue we ask for four things, and we will not list them without all four:

1. Current third party certification against ASTM F1487, verifiable in a public register rather than asserted in a brochure.
2. Published accessible component counts per configuration, so we can show provided against required.
3. Written warranty terms by material, not a single headline number that turns out to apply to one component.
4. Ungated technical documentation, meaning specification sheets and CAD we can publish without putting them behind a form.

That fourth condition rules some manufacturers out, and we are comfortable with that.

Our manufacturers

We are listing manufacturers here as each dealer agreement is signed, with the contract and certification detail alongside. We will not publish a name or a logo before we are actually authorised to sell it, because a partner list is either accurate or it is marketing. If you want to know today whether we can supply a particular manufacturer, ask and we will tell you straight.

How to check any supplier, including us

1. Ask which revision of ASTM F1487 the product is certified to.
2. Look the model up in the IPEMA register yourself.
3. Ask for the accessible component counts and check them against the size of the structure.
4. Ask for the critical fall height, then price the surfacing that height requires.
5. Ask whether the installer is CPSI certified and who inspects the finished job.

Any supplier worth buying from can answer all five in a single email.