What's the Worse that Could Happen?
16 December 2008
Sports courts are defined by their lines but could they be responsible for more than just showing players where they need to be?
Health and safety is crucial to the overall well-being of a synthetic sports surface. It is also something that, if left unchecked, can be jeopardised by a number of seemingly innocuous slip and trip hazards, causing accidents that may lead to facility closures, loss of revenue and the dreaded personal injury lawsuit.
Alongside the standard health and safety concerns of carpet rips and tears, issues of flooding and high sand or rubber levels lurks a hidden danger which might not immediately present itself – namely, the build-up of painted lines that not only causes uneven ball roll and bounce, but also poses a slip hazard to users.
This was the very situation faced by Dame Alice Owen School in Potters Bar, Herts. Whilst carrying out the latest End of Term maintenance assessment on the synthetic pitch, a Technical Surfaces’ Technical Manager noted that numerous applications of football and hockey pitch markings over the years had caused a gradual accrual of paint build-up across the surface. The school had chosen to include the optional Safety Inspection Report as part of their annual maintenance contract, so this anomaly was readily identified at an early stage, allowing operatives from the company to remove the offending lines using specialist equipment, before giving the surface a thorough clean to remove any debris and contamination from the affected areas. Football and hockey lines were subsequently re-marked on the surface, restoring the pitch to a safe and usable condition.
“We have used Technical Surfaces since the pitch here was installed back in 2001,” explains Ian Breeze, Head of P.E at the school; “they have not only completed regular maintenance and a Revite® but have also helped with specialist requests. We noticed that our painted lines were starting to ‘build-up’, which was affecting the run of the ball when playing hockey. Technical Surfaces were able to come in and remove the painted lines and we were delighted with the results.”
