Looking To Build An Ultra Safe Playground At Home? Use Artificial Turf

1. July 7, 2017 Looking To Build An Ultra Safe Playground At Home? Use Artificial Turf When you want to build an awesome play area for your children right in your own backyard, the first thing you have to consider is safety. With the right design, you can minimize the risk of major accidents while your children are trying to have some fun. As a parent, that goes a long way in giving you some peace of mind. Some playgrounds pose higher risk of causing major injuries than others. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 200,000 children from ages 14 and Page | 1

2. younger are rushed to emergency departments throughout the U.S. each year to get treated for playground injuries. While 61 percent are said to occur around public playground equipment, 19 percent occur in home playgrounds. While a child may just sustain a scratch or bruise, there are cases when the injuries are much more serious. In fact, 45 percent of playground injuries are said to include concussions, dislocations, severe fractures, internal injuries, and even amputations. To avoid these injuries, you have to be vigilant in designing your playground in such a way that it minimizes playground hazards as much as possible. One of the best ways to do that is have artificial turf installed at home. Artificial grass or turf feels just like natural grass, but with much less maintenance needed. That's why it's ideal to use for home play areas. Provide A Protective Surface Often times, it's the surface that actually gets children in a lot of trouble. Some public playgrounds are simply covered with unsafe surfaces. That includes brick, stone, concrete, gravel, and rocks. This can complicate the consequences of slips and falls. Falls happen to be the leading cause of non-fatal injuries for children between the ages of 0 and 19. In fact, as many as 8,000 children are rushed to emergency departments across the U.S. each day due to fall-related injuries. As much as 70 percent of injuries related to playground equipment involve falls to the surface. With artificial turf, you can provide a soft surface for a child to land. This would definitely go a long way in minimizing any playground injuries. Page | 2

3. Prevent Trip Hazards The problem with other playground surfaces is that they tend to leave a significant gap between the play area and the pathway beside it. Because of this, children trip as they leave the playground. With artificial turf in place, you can have an even height between your play area and walkway, removing any trip hazards. Stay Toxin Free Because you don't need to use fertilizer or insecticides to maintain synthetic turf, there wouldn't be any reasons for chemical toxins to be present in your backyard. That means the air your children breathe will be cleaner and safer. Artificial turf is great to use for your home's playground area. Experts can install artificial turf in your backyard in no time. To design a play area that’s ultra-safe for your children as possible consider having artificial turf installed. About SMARTURF: At SMARTURF, we take pride in helping keep your family safe. In fact, we highly recommend utilizing our artificial turf for your home playground area. This way, you can be sure that your children are protected from serious fall injuries because an artificial turf surface would always give them a soft surface to land on. Sources: FACTS ABOUT INJURIES TO CHILDREN ON PLAYGROUNDS, naturalplaygrounds.com National Program for Playground Safety, playgroundsafety.org Fall Prevention, cdc.gov Playground Injuries: Fact Sheet, cdc.gov Page | 3