The
Fall 2023
Playground Insider
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Let’s All Keep Pace by Ken Krug
ASTM standards and guides have a significant impact on elevating industries by encouraging safety, quality, innovation, and market access. They provide a framework for professions, like ours, to thrive, compete, and adapt in an ever-changing marketplace while maintaining high standards of performance and integrity. For years, NPCAI has been advocating for an ASTM standard that will provide a common framework for quality, safety, and performance in playground installation. The process is long and sometimes tedious, as ASTM standards are developed through a consensus-based process involving experts from industry, academia, government, and other stakeholders. It is important that we keep the end goal in mind. A new standard guide will help ensure installers have the knowledge required to meet safety and quality criteria. This, in turn, elevates the profession, provides consistency in the industry, and can reduce the risk of subpar performance in our industry. NPCAI’s RISC program verifies that installers are professionals who have a level of knowledge and expertise that sets them apart from those who do not hold those credentials. Providing consumers and end users confidence in our abilities is important to our members, the association, and the industry. Let’s all keep pace. If you and/or your team are not RISC certified, plan to do it. We have a RISC course coming up in December. Just like an ASTM standard, through certification you are pushing the industry to evolve and improve. It’s time that we all expect skilled and qualified installers as an industry
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