KSL Design Inc. 18 Spalding Drive PO Box 25085 Brantford, Ontario N3T 6K5

Phone: Fax: 1-877-757-7529 519-758-6565

An estimated 4% of children aged 5 to 14 have a disability. This means that 154,720 children in this age range have a disability.

Of this 154,720, 32% have mild disabilities, 25% have moderate disabilities, 26% have severe disabilities and the remaining 17% have severe disabilities. Among school aged children 72% have more than one type of disability.

Types of disabilities can be classified as:

• Hearing
• Seeing
• Speech
• Mobility
• Dexterity
• Learning
• Psychological
• Development

This webpage will help you design a play space to the requirements of special needs users. As well as comply with the accessibility requirements of the CSA Z614 Standard and the Ontario Disabilities Act.

The key to designing a successful accessible playspace is by providing components that are accessible for special needs users along accessible playing routes. These special needs users may require the use of a mobility device (such as a wheelchair or walker) that may limit their access to components that are located on elevated platforms. At the same time as complying with accessibility requirements, we need to maintain components that are challenging for traditional use children as well. To accomplish both goals, the use of a component matrix can be of assistance:

As you will notice, small playspaces with only 5-7 total components will only have 2 minimum required accessible components that are of 2 different types. However, as the playspaces get larger the needs for more ground level components by number and by type will also increase. A large playspace with 25 components will have 8 minimum required ground level components with a minimum of 4 different types.

Please feel free to use our accessible playspace components calculator to determine if your playspace meets the accessibility requirements.

These accessible play components need to be located along an accessible route. Ground level accessible routes must have a width of at least 60 inches (to allow two wheelchairs to pass one another) and must have a slope no greater than 1:20. However, the slope of an accessible route connecting ground level play components within the boundary of the playspace can be no greater than 1:16 (i.e. when it is within the protective surfacing zones).

Accessible routes leading up to a playspace are exempt from the CSA Z614 Standard. But as they are subject to the Ontario Disabilities Act they will be subject to CSA B651 - Accessible Design for the Built Environment.

Please keep in mind that when ramps are used to connect elevated play components, the slope of the ramp cannot exceed 1:12. The width of the ramp needs to be between 36 and 60 inches.

Protective Surfacing

Not all of the four major surfacing types are acceptable for use in a special needs or accessible playspace. The four major surfacing types include:

1. sand
2. gravel (often called pea gravel and metering stone)
3. engineered wood fibre products
4. synthetic surfacing (often called rubber, synthetic poured-in-place or synthetic tiles)

However, only synthetic products (poured-in-place or tiles) as well as engineered wood fibre surfaces will meet the accessibility requirements for a mobility device. Sand and gravel surfaces, as well as bark mulch surfaces are not acceptable for use in a special needs or accessible playspace.

Please note that this is only a brief introduction to designing an accessible playspace. To ensure that your playspace complies with the CSA Z614 accessibility requirements and the Ontario Disabilities Act please contact your KSL representative via email or 1-877-757-7529.