sofSURFACES has been working with the community of Rocky Mount, NC for several years now. With many of their playground structures outfitted with various types of loose-fill systems, Kelvin Yarrell, Superintendent of Parks & Cemeteries for Rocky Mount knew it was time for a change. Vandalism has been an ongoing concern in many of their park areas – so were the rising labour and maintenance costs with maintaining these wood-chip systems.

Maintaining a loose fill system requires frequent raking, levelling and top-dressing with additional wood chips and the removal of garbage/debris quite regularly. In heavy-use areas such as at the bottom of slides, beneath swings, or at the base of any rotating structures, wood chips would become displaced which presented real concerns around fall protection and liability. Over time, it became very apparent for this community, the material and labor costs far-outweighed what the up front investment would be in a unitary system like duraSAFE Rubber Playground Tiles.

The safety of the children that use their parks was a top priority. One of the benefits that most attracted Kelvin and his team to this type of a system in addition to the long-term cost savings is that duraSAFE offers a best-in-industry limited lifetime warranty on the tile – which includes fall height performance!