Playground slip testing.
Surfacing that has to pass two tests.

Playgrounds have two parallel safety standards

A playground safety surface has to do two things: absorb impact when a child falls from equipment (governed by EN 1177, assessed by HIC — Head Injury Criterion — or Critical Fall Height), and provide adequate slip resistance to minimise falls in the first place (governed by BS EN 16165 pendulum testing per UKSRG Issue 6). Surface suppliers, playground installers and asset inspectors often conflate the two. They are not the same test and they give genuinely different answers.

A wetpour surface with excellent impact absorption can have poor slip resistance when wet. A concrete surface with no impact absorption at all can have excellent slip resistance. A competent playground safety audit addresses both.

The playground surface types we test

Wetpour (Poured-in-Place Rubber)

Wetpour is the dominant installed surface in UK school and public playgrounds. Its slip performance varies substantially with binder specification, top-layer granule size, age, and contamination. New wetpour typically tests at PTV 40–55. After 5–8 years, loss of binder and top-layer erosion can drop the PTV significantly — while the surface may still pass its EN 1177 impact test.

Rubber mulch and bonded rubber

Loose or bonded shredded rubber products are common in MUGA transition zones and nature-play areas. Pendulum testing of bonded rubber requires adapted methodology to account for surface compliance.

Grass matting (rubber tile)

Perforated rubber tile laid over grass — popular in primary school playgrounds, parish council play areas, and nursery gardens. New tiles test well; tiles that have shifted, frost-heaved or had grass grow through the perforations behave differently.

Artificial turf play surfaces

Some playgrounds now use performance artificial turf with shock pad. Pendulum testing verifies the shod-foot slip resistance as a supplement to the FIFA / World Rugby impact-based testing more commonly specified.

Bark and engineered wood fibre

Loose-fill bark is not typically pendulum-tested (the surface is non-continuous), but the adjoining hard-surface perimeter is.

Sand and resin-bound gravel paths

Pathway surfaces connecting playground equipment are often resin-bound gravel. These surfaces test well in the wet when new but lose PTV as the resin binder ages and fines detach.

Who commissions playground pendulum testing

• Schools and academies — as part of estate safety audits, following a slip incident, or at handover of new installations.
• Local authority parks teams — as part of the annual RoSPA inspection cycle or post-incident.
• Parish and town councils — responsible for village playgrounds and recreation grounds.
• Housing associations — for estate play areas.
• Playground surfacing installers — for installation handover evidence and warranty defence.
• Insurance claims loss adjusters — post-incident forensic investigation.

The seasonal issue

Outdoor playground surfaces are weather-dependent in a way that indoor floors are not. A wetpour that tests at PTV 45 in summer may test at PTV 22 in February under algal contamination, leaf-mould residue or freeze-thaw damage to the binder. A single summer test is, on its own, not a complete picture for the full year. Winter re-testing, or explicit seasonal-worst-case evaluation, is increasingly the standard of care expected.

Playground PTV targets