Quality & safety
The European law states that if devices meet the EN 1176 standard, they are considered to be safe. As a member of the Dutch standards committee NEN-1176 / NEN-1177 for playground equipment and fall surfaces, we are committed to the development and production of safe playground equipment. All our devices meet the EN-1176 standards and have the corresponding test certificate. Falling surfaces must comply with the EN 1177 standard.
Certification
As a manufacturer of playground equipment, we are also ISO 9001, ISO 14001, KOMO and VCA certified and we produce environmentally conscious to minimize waste flows. When designing our devices, we take into account the recycling and reuse of materials. With such a durable quality that we guarantee a lifespan of at least 15 years. We even offer a lifetime warranty on many of our products*! In the early 1980s we were the first company in the world to manufacture playground equipment from recycled plastic. Furthermore, our wooden playground equipment is FSC® certified.
FSC® certified
In recent years, a large number of sustainable certifications and quality marks have come onto the market. This makes it not always easy for customers and consumers to determine which certifications are important for the choice of products and why. Which is the best and how do we choose between established and new schemes? For an overview of the various quality marks that apply to wood, you can consult the label overview of Milieu Centraal. We find it most important that we manufacture our products as much as possible from sustainable materials with the lowest possible impact on people and the environment. For the manufacture of our wooden products, we consciously choose to purchase FSC®-certified wood.
An FSC® certification, what does 
that actually mean? We get this question regularly. All the wood we use is FSC® certified. This means that the forests, where the wood we use comes from, are managed in such a way that they remain intact. With plenty of space for animals to retreat. FSC® certified concessions (agreements made to mine a raw material in a certain area) are managed extensively.
In practice, this means the following:
- A concession is divided into logging sections. After the harvest of 3 to 5 logs per hectare, the felling section is left alone for at least 25 to 30 years.
- Important places are mapped in advance and excluded from activity. For example, the habitat of rare animals, a sacred place for the local population or a water source or stream.
- The local population is taken into account and employees are provided with a decent income.
Forest protection
A forest plot is protected by prescribing and using certified wood. Sufficient certified wood is available at an attractive price. The more demand we develop together, the more forest is sustainably managed. FSC® managed forests have a low environmental impact. Wood, including hardwood, has a relatively low carbon footprint compared to other materials. Research bureau Beco (2013) has shown that hardwood is an environmentally friendly material for building constructions. Wooden products also contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases and the prevention of global warming. It stores carbon in such an amount that the emissions from transport to here are amply compensated. Read more about this in the article that was published in the trade magazine Stad + Groen.
What do you contribute with the design of a playground?
An example: The Alpine playground is located next to the restaurant and the large outdoor terrace of Snowworld Zoetermeer. The playground with large half-timbered houses and other play elements was completed in 2019. Azobé wood was chosen for the construction. Because this wood is strong, it can be used to place a large device. In addition, louro preto, louro itauba and robinia were used. These are types of wood that do not splinter and are therefore suitable for a playground.
About 6.5 m³ of FSC-certified azobé, louro itauba and louro preto wood were used for the climbing equipment, play elements and the associated seating furniture. With this BOERplay protects about 13,000 m² of tropical forest for 30 years.
