IPEMA
The
International Playground Equipment and Manufacturer's Association (IPEMA) is
dedicated to keeping children safe on playgrounds all over the United States
and Canada. The purpose is to provide a 3rd Party Certification service for
public play equipment and safety surfacing by providing and setting safety
guidelines and standards. Executive Director, Denise Calabrese, states, "IPEMA
is dedicated to promoting safety in playground equipment and surfacing. We
believe we can best do so by promoting our third-party certification program to
the industry, and encouraging companies to apply for certification of their
products."
In addition, IPEMA successfully continues to contribute to the Consumer Product Safety Commission Guidelines on public play equipment and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Other IPEMA accomplishments include encouraging the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to create the original F1487 Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specifications for Playground Equipment for Public Use. They maintain an active role with the ASTM, contributing specific standards for playground surfacing, accessibility of playground surfacing and soft-contained play equipment to name a few.
Administered by a third-party product certification service, TotTurf® surfaces have been tested for their shock absorbing properties in accordance with procedures outlined in ASTM F-1292-95, standard specifications for impact attenuation of surface systems under and around playground equipment. This ensures that our shock absorbing pads will help minimize injuries if a fall were to occur.
With thousands of children playing on TotTurf® surfaces every day, we make sure that safety is our number one priority. In striving to meet the highest safety standards possibly, our company is an IPEMA member and our surfaces are IPEMA certified. We also play an active role in IPEMA with Richard Hawley, CEO of TotTurf®, serving as the Surfacing Certification Committee Seat, as an Officer on the IPEMA board of directors, and as the Chair of the Membership Committee.Most recently, IPEMA opened up their membership to any individual or entity that is involved in selling or utilizing play equipment and related products within the scope of their operation or employment, but not engaged in the manufacturing of play equipment and related products. Associate members will have the opportunity to be involved in IPEMA’s mission to promote the value of play, network with industry leaders, keep abreast of industry news, be alerted when new legislation is introduced and much more. Learn how you can become an associate member of IPEMA.
In
the interest of playground safety, IPEMA provides a Third Party Certification
Service whereby a designated independent laboratory validates a surfacing
manufacturer's certification of conformance to ASTM F-1292, Standard
Specifications for Impact Attenuation Under and Around Playground Equipment.
The use of the
corresponding TotTurf® brochure signifies that TotTurf®
has received written validation from the independent laboratory that the
product associated with the use of the logo conforms to the requirements of the
indicated standard. Check the IPEMA website www.ipema.org
to confirm Product certification, its thickness, and critical height.