API launches guide to playground design

The Association of Play Industries (API) published the first issue of its new guidance on playgrounds yesterday (1 November), aiming to clarify the UK’s position on design and layout.

The API Guide to Playground Layout and Design was created in response to agreement at the API’s design conference held earlier this year that general guidelines were needed to further explain the standard EN1176.

It also covers the Disability Discrimination Act and aims to ensure fully inclusive play is accessible to children of all abilities.

The guide, which will be regularly updated, will be made available to the industry and other play area designers and landscape architects, as well as to the Register of Play Inspectors International (RPII) which will be asked to adopt the guidelines when undertaking safety inspections.

Launching the publication, API chair of outdoor play, Richard Lumb, said: “Some 80 per cent of UK play areas are designed and built for the public sector and commercial clients by API members, they welcome this guide to aid mutually agreed interpretation of safety standards with clients, safety inspectors and industry.”

The API is in agreement with the position outlined by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) earlier this year that play areas should be ‘as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible’.

The guide can be downloaded from www.api-play.org