Fall protection mats and slabs
WARCO manufactures fall protection tiles and fall protection slabs in various designs. They are certified according to EN 1177 and provide maintenance-free fall protection for public and private areas for many years. Find out everything you need to know about fall protection from WARCO here.
- All advantages at a glance
- Free fall height and fall space
- Fall protection on publicly accessible play areas
- Fall protection from backfilled material
- Can be used all year round and permanently
- Lay properly with little effort
- Three mounting systems
- Added value for the carrier or operator
- Examples from practice
Best rated *****
'Very good - We placed these fall protection panels under a climbing frame in the garden of our kindergarten. They optimally fulfill their purpose.'
Infantarius Kindergartens gGmbH
'Very good - Very good product and easy to install. Good advice, easy ordering and on-time delivery. Good price-quality ratio.'
Secret Gardens SPRL
'Good product, easy to work with - The tiles are easy to work with (cut to size). We have installed them indoors. The vapors are also hardly noticeable.'
CJD Daycare Center Extertal Hans-Lenze Foundation
All the advantages of WARCO fall protection at a glance
As a renowned manufacturer, WARCO has outstanding expertise in the field of fall protection mats. WARCO's expert advice is available by telephone and in writing for all phases of planning and execution of surfaces with impact-absorbing properties.
- Production of fall protection for over 20 years.
- The right fall protection for every fall height.
- Plug-in connection or dovetail connection.
- As a substitute for jointless fall protection.
- Inexpensive colors and noble color designs.
- Flammability class Efl or Cfl-s1.
- Competent advice - reliable service.
- High quality fall protection, easy to install
- Practical - easy to mount anywhere.
- Economical - durable, easy to clean, low maintenance.
Fall protection up to 300 cm critical fall height
Free fall height and fall space
The free fall height and the fall space are decisive for the planning of a fall protection surface. These values are usually specified by the manufacturer of the play equipment or climbing wall.
The free fall height is the greatest perpendicular distance between the clearly intended body support and the surface below, e.g.
- when standing on a platform, the distance between the feet and the floor.
- the distance from the gripping surface to the ground when shimmying along a shimmying route.
- when swinging, the distance from the center of the seat perpendicular to the floor at a swing angle of 60°.
The fall space is any area around the play equipment that must provide fall protection as a possible impact surface. The depth of the fall space, i.e. the length of the impact surface, must be at least 150 cm and is calculated from 150 cm free fall height using the formula: Length of the impact area = (2/3 of the free fall height) + 0.5.
Fall protection on publicly accessible play areas
The EN 1176 standard sets out the binding safety requirements for public playgrounds - whether run by municipalities or private operators. It also contains regulations for shock-absorbing floor coverings, i.e. for fall protection.
In practice, this means that a shock-absorbing floor covering, i.e. fall protection, must be installed under playground equipment. Suitable fall protection materials include wood chips, bark mulch or gravel. However, only fall protection mats made of rubber granulate offer maintenance-free and cost-effective fall protection over many years.
The advantages of fall protection mats made of rubber granulate are obvious: On the one hand, the handy sheets can be laid on a suitable base layer (WARCO recommends plastic ground grids here) without extensive earthworks.
In use, fall protection mats are low-maintenance, maintenance-free and durable. And if a panel does get damaged, it can be easily replaced. This means that the playground can be used in any season and in any weather.
The product finder - find the right fall protection quickly
Fall protection from backfilled material - not recommended in the long term!
Only at first glance does loosely distributed fall protection, i.e. wood chips, bark mulch, fall protection gravel or fall protection sand, appear to be the cheaper fall protection. However, if one considers not only isolated the material price, the calculation looks quite different:
- Poured fall protection is often used by animals as a toilet.
- Feces, food scraps, broken glass and other debris mix with the loose fall protection material.
- Bark mulch or wood chips rot.
- Toddlers like to put bark mulch or wood chips in their mouths.
- Broken glass and splinters of wood pose a high risk of injury.
- Fall protection gravel or wood chips are used as throwing material.
- The loose fall protection is carried into the terrain, i.e. played away and must be refilled.
- Poured fall protection collects dust when dry, and mud can form when wet.
Your safety
By choosing the right WARCO fall protection slab for your playground project, you permanently safeguard the children playing against fall injuries within the framework of the applicable legal regulations. And you protect yourself in the long term against accident-related claims for damages.
Fall protection tiles made of rubber granules - can be used all year round and permanently with pleasure
Outdoors, an area secured with fall protection slabs can be used all year round and in any weather. The water-permeable rubber granulate tiles allow precipitation to seep away quickly and without puddle formation. The surface of the fall protection slabs dries again in a short time. It is slip-resistant both when wet and dry.
At low temperatures, a fall protection covering made of rubber granulate provides noticeable insulation against the cold of the ground. Vibrations and structure-borne noise are dampened. This increases comfort for users and residents of the fall protection area.
WARCO fall protection tiles are harmless to health, the EPDM used even meets the requirements for baby toys. The fall protection tiles are manufactured in fire classes Efl or Cfl-s1.
WARCO fall protection slabs - installed properly with little effort
WARCO fall protection mats are easy to install. A stable and level base layer is sufficient. If a bound or lattice base layer is already in place, installation can usually be carried out without any further preparatory work.
In the case of grown or filled subsoil ("green meadow"), WARCO recommends the installation of a base layer based on plastic honeycomb grids.
A bedding of sand, chippings or gravel is unsuitable for laying elastic slabs of rubber granulate, as sooner or later this will result in the so-called "cupping" of the fall protection slabs (formation of dents in the bedding).
In contrast, the plastic soil grids laid on a thin layer of chippings and filled with chippings form an ideal base layer that is stable in position and open to infiltration. It has a load-bearing capacity of approx. 400 t/m2 and can be built up with little effort and without major earthmoving.
Three mounting systems - always easy to put together
Mounting systems are integrated into the sides of WARCO panels. These simply create a mechanical connection between the individual panels during installation. A coherent carpet of panels is created. The most secure connection is achieved with the jigsaw or dovetail joint (zipper).
Fall protection surfaces from WARCO can be installed in a way that is vandalism-proof. However, they can also be laid in such a way that they can be removed without damaging the slabs and relaid at any time. This makes WARCO's fall protection slabs superior to jointless fall protection poured on site.
The Plastic connector connect the panels of adjacent rows of panels. The rows of panels are laid half offset to each other. This connection does not prevent the panels from drifting apart.
The symmetrically arranged Zipper serrations Strips on all sides create a positive connection between the panels by simply pressing them into each other. A storage-stable and permanently joined panel carpet is automatically created.
This type of panel is also called a puzzle panel.
The half-height zipper prongs located on two adjacent panel sides engage with snug-fitting, concealed mating parts of the connected panel when the panels are joined. The concealed zipper creates a form-fit and permanently stable joint. A straight joint pattern is created on the visible side.
WARCO safety mats - added value for the wearer or operator
For the operator of a fall protection area, WARCO fall protection pays off in several ways.
Before buying, the expert advice will provide you with competent and objective help in planning fall protection surfaces and selecting the most suitable fall protection mats.
During the investment phase, you will benefit from favorable manufacturer prices and sales-related discounts. You will be pleased to know that the installation of the fall protection mats can be carried out quickly and cost-effectively by your own personnel or a suitable service provider.
During operation, WARCO safety hazards place only a small burden on your budget. Because the floor is durable, robust and low-maintenance. And, of course, it offers fall protection with a certificate.
Fall protection from WARCO - Examples from practice
A typical application for fall protection is a children's playground. This playhouse with slide has only a low fall height, so the 40 mm thick slabs with zipper interlocking provide sufficient fall protection. Through the joints of the 50 cm wide panels, the fall space of 150 cm is also well visible.
The zipper interlock, also called jigsaw interlock, creates a positive connection between the panels, resulting in a securely connected tile carpet. For this reason, edging is not required. In contrast, an edge edging must always be attached to fall protection mats with a push-fit connection.
The dovetail joint, also called jigsaw joint or zipper system, is the best jointing system for fall protection slabs. This is because this system creates a truly positive and permanent connection between the individual panels; the panels join together to form a firmly connected carpet of panels.
The bond holds so well that you can even assemble and cut a matching fall protection decking for a children's carousel without gluing the panels or installing an edging. Cutting the fall protection panels to size is easy with a suitable saw.
The HZ fall protection puzzle mats in the Savannah color design blend harmoniously with the lawn and the autumnal foliage of the garden. The climbing and dangling course, under which the mats lie, was designed for the children with a lot of imagination.
However, the fall protection does not comply with the regulations. Up to a fall height of 150 cm, grass is sufficient as fall protection and the fall space must be at least 150 cm around the play equipment. For greater fall heights, the fall space must be correspondingly larger and secured with better material. Under the blue net and under the climbing grips on the tree, on the other hand, there is no fall protection at all.
In this respect, the fall protection mats here rather fulfill the function of a floor protection mat.
Fall protection panels can be laid on any permanently load-bearing substrate. Installation is so simple that many customers do it themselves.
Fall protection slabs with plug-in connections must always be laid in a half-connection, i.e. each slab is connected to four neighboring slabs (2 in front and 2 behind) via the plug-in connections.
In the outdoor area, panels with a size of 50 × 50 cm should be used, but not panels with a size of about 100 × 100 cm.
Art on construction on fall protection - a somewhat unusual fall protection project is this walkable and playable work of art, which was placed on a surface of fall protection panels for safety.
The decision to use fall protection slabs was made for aesthetic and safety reasons. Ultimately, the fall protection panels and the object on them are to be considered as an installation, i.e. as a total work of art.
Especially popular on playgrounds are climbing houses with slides and nest swings. The nest swing has the great advantage over the simple swing that children can swing, sit and lie together.
The playground was professionally secured with type FS fall protection mats. It is easy to see that the type FS fall protection mats, i.e. fall protection mats with a plug-in connection, must always be laid in a half-offset position, as this is the only way that the plug-in connections can secure the mats against lateral displacement.
Fall protection from WARCO - All advantages at a glance
- Fall protection with certificate according to EN 1177:2018.
- Robust, weather-resistant, frost-proof.
- For indoor and outdoor use - flammability Efl or Cfl-s1.
- Water permeable, quick drying.
- Does not rot. Does not erode away.
- Non-slip wet and dry.
- Pleasant - heat, cold and sound insulation.
- Easy to clean with self-cleaning effect.