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What Is Critical Fall Height?

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The Critical Fall Height (CFH) is the maximum height that you can fall to the ground. This would generally refer to climb and play equipment, it is simple measured and the highest point which someone could fall from is the CFH.

So when designing different safety floorings and manufacturing the rubber they are rigorously tested to meet BS EN 1177 safety standards. Which would consist of dropping a weighted object from set heights and seeing how much of the impact is absorbed by the surface.

Generally the easiest way to increase the impact absorption of the safety surface is to increase the depth of the layer. But the higher the drop is the less likely it become that the surface is going to be able to take enough force to provide a safe fall.

Here at Soft Surfaces, we are always asked what the meaning of a Critical Fall Height (CFH) is and people are often curious whether this is industry standard. Our premium rubber surfaces are individually tested with child safety in mind.

Critical Fall Height Explained

Please take a minute to watch this short video which goes into more detail on what a CFH is and how it is determined.

Please see transcription below:

00:00 Hi Guys. It’s Dan from Soft Surfaces here and today we’re going to be looking at the question, what is critical fall height? Critical Fall Height, otherwise known as CFH is essentially the distance of the top of the playground equipment, that could be the slide, the monkey bars, etc. to the actual surfaces installed on the playground.

00:14 That could be something like wet pour or rubber mulch or whatever you’re looking to have installed. So I use the example of wet pour here.

00:19 Say we’re installing a wet pour surface onto a playground. We have to look at the top point of your playground surface and determine how much depth we need to install the wet pour to, to ensure that if a child were to fall from that, they’re much less likely to have a serious injury.

00:30 When having any play facility installed, it’s crucial to ensure that safety is a priority.

00:38 Here at Soft Surfaces, we have over 20 years experience installing these surfaces, and we make sure they meet every single safety guideline possible to make sure your playground is as safe at it can be.

00:43 For more information, please just visit us at https://www.softsurfaces.co.uk.

For more information on the critical fall heights of our safety surfaces, please get in contact directly and a member of our team will be on hand to help with any questions.

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