KaBOOM! Forums

Although wooden mulch is technically ADA accessible, it is actually very difficult to roll across in a wheelchair, especially when little valleys and hills start to form.  Older adults with walkers or parents & children on crutches can also find themselves 'disabled by their environment' when faced with such a surface.  The maintenance of wood chips needs to be very frequent to prevent these bumps, not only for those with mobility issues, but also to keep the surface safe for any child that may play on it.  The areas where the mulch has worn down, particularly at the bottom of slides and under swings, may no longer be deep enough to properly cushion a fall.  Visit the Surfacing page on KaBOOM! Accessibility for lots of information on safey, accessibility, cost, and maintenance of common playground surfacings: http://projects.kaboom.org/accessibility/UniversalDesign/Surfacing/tabid/20558/Default.aspx

Wood Mulch is accessible "if" maintained properly.  It's the cheapest route initially. Wood mulch or engineered wood fiber is easily contaminated and requires constant attention to maintain accessibilty.  The manufacterer will tell you it meets ASTM or CPSC requirements in laboratory conditions. However, in the field fall heights dictate specific depths of the medium be maintained.  Playground equipment sometimes have tattletale lines at the bottom of their equipment. When the equipment is set corrrectly, these lines tell maintenance personnel when to add additional wood mulch.  Kids displace the mulch in their play. Rocks, sticks, broken glass can hide in it. 

The last ASTM meeting I attended there were issues concerning recycled rubber pieces concerning accessibility.