Protection hoses for playground areas

In the last decades the attention to the safety of the playground equipment has increased. The materials have diversified: no longer just steel, but also wood, plastics and rubber. Rigid structures have been replaced by more attractive and less dangerous soft structures. Since 1998, the European standards EN 1176 - playground equipment - and EN 1177 - surface coating for playgrounds - delimited the technical characteristics of playgrounds. Each Country then applied specific guidelines. In Germany, for example, equipment must be suitable for contact with skin and oral contact according to explicit rules. And so, when one of our customers asked us to design rubber hoses to protect the support ropes of the swings, he requested them in agreement with the GS-Certification AfPS GS 2014: 01 PAK cat. 1. We chose an EPDM rubber, due to its resistance to the weathering, to thermal excursions, to the action of ozone. We created a safe blend by checking every single component of the recipe. We designed a durable hose and we certified its suitability according to GS Mark Certification. Above all, we offered our customer a real competitive advantage: we gave him the possibility of using a component certified by the manufacturer in compliance with the laws of his Country. We took the responsibility of personalized design and obligation towards legislation. But we also like to think that we cooperate to the playgrounds safe fun.