“Slipping in the rain”

With tornadoes in England, floods across the island, and a yellow weather warning for the weekend, it’s definitely autumn. And, for those of us working outside, as we embrace the rain and the colder temperatures, we’re also reminded of another annual consideration: the increased risk of slips and falls on wet wooden surfaces!

Inevitably, this sparks a round of discussions and ideas that present both positives and negatives.

Do some of these mitigations actually create more risks? And, what impact do they have on the lifespan of the wood itself?

That latter question may be of little significance at your setting. Replacing the decking of a summer house might only cost a hundred pounds or so. However, when you expand that to the scale of wooden walkways on an adventure playground, you’re suddenly considering thousands rather than hundreds.

When I received an email on this very topic earlier this week from Paula Blake, Operations Manager at The AAA Zone, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of my response more publicly. That’s not to say I have the answer, but more so that I know there will be people out there in the same situation who very well might have the answer! It is also likely that one solution

So here are my Top 5 considerations:

1. Jetwash – this will remove surface algae (the thing that makes it most slippery), however, as well as the potential costs to hire a jetwasher if you don’t have one, jetwashing will consume both time and water. Volunteers might help reduce the time costs, but if you’ve just come off the end of a summer filled with water fights, the water bill might not handle another hit.

2. Score the wooden surface – if you’ve got someone with a chainsaw or other apt contraption, you could try criss-cross scoring the wood surface. Like the patterns on trainers, this can reduce the slipperiness, but it almost certainly reduces to the lifespan of the wood by inviting water to pool and enabling freeze-thaw expansion in the winter. There is also a marginal increase in the risk of grazes from falls onto the surface.

Important additional advice from Simon Rix (Trustee of The Playwork Foundation):

“Do not advise people to score decks with a chainsaw please. Apart from the difficulty of getting a positive result against the damage caused by such a brutal tool, using the tip of the blade is where you get kickbacks, the most common cause of chainsaw injuries.

Instead, use the cutting depth adjustment on your circular saw to set a depth of 5mm or so and run that across in your desired pattern. Much safer.

Also, remember that scoring in the direction of travel will not be effective, score across the direction of travel“

3. Anti-slip strips, coatings or chicken wire – the strips and chicken wire are probably the most effect in terms of reducing the slipperiness of a surface, but the increased damage to the skin when falling onto them, in my opinion, matches the risks posed by slipping in the first place, so they cancel each other out.

4. Sprays – anti-fungal and biocidal sprays, often marketed as general outdoor patio cleaners, can kill off the algae that tends to cause most of the problem. However, depending on the brand and your supplier, these can be costly and may also have a negative impact on the environment, so make sure you check the labels and instructions.

5. Sand or grit – The best middle ground I have found, is to sprinkle sand on the walkways as often as possible. It can itself present a slip hazard, but a lesser one than the untreated wet surface. The sand itself absorbs some of the moisture, whilst the friction underfoot also works to remove the algae slowly – this less aggressive approach also lessens the impact on the longevity of the wood. That being said, I’ve used this on sites where there has been an abundance of sand, so there was no additional cost.

During Playwork in Progress last week, regular Suzanne Axelsson shared a common and easy Swedish hack to keeping your wooden surfaces algae-free: soap! She was even kind enough to share these two articles on the topic after the session which give a comprehensive understanding of why you should use soap (and not “power” cleaners):

• https://www.grumme.se/tips-och-rad/sapa-trallen-med-grumme-sapa/
• https://vasterbottenssapa.se/blogs/stadguiden/hur-sapar-man-tratrall

Both articles are in Swedish, but browsers (such as Chrome) should offer to automatically translate.

What are your handy hints or tips for this issue? Are there any other seasonal headaches that we can help solve? Please get in touch and let us know. If you would like to send your suggestions to Paula directly, you can email paula@theaaazone.com.

Siôn is the current Chair of The Playwork Foundation. His views are his own and not necessarily those of The Playwork Foundation. Any advice give is personal and should not be taken or relied upon as professional guidance.