Engineering
Soft Play is the leader in the soft contained playground industry due in no small part to its stringent safety standards and testing procedures, as well as its qualified and expert engineering professionals.
Brad Hobday is Soft Play's engineering manager, and he explains what separates Soft Play from the rest of the pack. "Not only do we conform to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards, but Soft Play also requires testing above and beyond that. We conduct all the required safety standard tests on our components, but we also do a significant amount of life-cycle testing."
Hobday explains that life-cycle testing is conducted by creating an apparatus that takes the piece of play equipment through its natural range of motion, known as a cycle. Typically, each piece of equipment is run through at least one million cycles. "We conduct these tests to ensure the products' structural integrity and durability and to design out maintenance issues," he explains.
Soft Play is a member of the Soft Contained Play Equipment (SCPE) committee, which helps determine the ASTM safety performance requirements. Here is a brief overview of some of the requirements:
- No protrusions or entanglement hazards that could possibly injure a child or snag their clothing.
- There must be impact-attenuating safety surfacing around the access and egress points. The fall heights can be no more than three feet.
- Access/egress points are free of obstructions.
- Slides are free of obstruction.
- Entrances, exits, transfer points and platforms should all be accessible.
- Maintenance and hygiene instructions provided.
- Manufacturer operations instructions provided
