During the many years I’ve been working on safety flooring for playgrounds and outdoor fitness or sport areas, I’ve faced all kind of situations.
Picture from Crystal Kwok at Unsplash
One of them is seeing some installers with a very low sales price that decided to reduce their cost by using a very low price polyurethane binder as this is the most expensive component of the wetpour flooring system.
Before making changes to polyurethane formulations, extensive testing must be performed to evaluate the impact on safety, durability, and regulatory compliance. It is essential not only to comply with all relevant regulations and standards but also to ensure the safety and well-being of children using the play areas.
Some binder manufacturers get a very low price by adding at their formulation components such as plasticizers than reduce manufacturing costs. The use of plasticizers have some important disadvantages. Here are some of them:
- Premature degradation of the polyurethane that affects structural integrity, loss of cushioning properties or anti-slip performance, both essential for the children safety.
- Compromising the resistance to withstand wear in the most vigorous play activities and loss robustness in front to environmental conditions exposition.
- Some plasticizers can have a negative impact on the environment due to the release into soil or water, producing pollution and ecological damage.
- Affect compliance with some regulations and standards for safety flooring in playgrounds, fitness or sport areas.
- Some plasticizers can release chemical compounds that could be harmful to children’s health, especially if they come into direct contact with the skin or if they inhale fumes.
- A flooring containing plasticizers in the binder may require more intensive maintenance as they may be more likely to crack, wear or break down over time.
We at Krypton have close to 25 years if history producing different chemical products for flooring, and waterproofing in construction and we value our brand reputation. Using low quality and low cost components in order to reduce end product cost would affect our brand’s reputation. For us quality and safety of the product is a priority, so we balance cost reduction with flooring quality, durability and safety, especially in environments where child safety is paramount.
Picture from Crystal Kwok at Unsplash
Fortunately, all the companies in which I currently work and those in which I previously worked have always had quality and safety as priorities and have not made formulations of this type, which, in fact, are almost a scam that becomes very expensive.
Take care
Rubberman Blog 