Free CPSI Exam Flashcards

F1487 is a voluntary consensus standard written by ASTM International. Handbook 325 is federal guidance from the CPSC. Neither is federal law by itself, but states, insurers, and contracts adopt them, so an inspector cites both. Handbook 325 is the free reference NRPA tells candidates to read cover to cover.

The July 2025 edition of Handbook 325 cites an average of over 190,000 emergency-room-treated injuries a year (2021-2023). Its 1,775-incident study (2009-2014) puts equipment-related hazards such as breakage and tip-over first at 38 percent, with falls second at 29 percent. The 2010 edition, which NRPA's resources page still links, said over 200,000 injuries with falls first at 44 percent.

Identify hazards, rank them by injury potential, then remove them and set up an inspection system. Risk is the challenge a child chooses and can perceive; a hazard is the danger a child cannot see. You reduce hazards without stripping out the graduated challenge children need.

Clothing drawstrings, scarves, and mittens on strings catching a projection or a gap, plus ropes, cords, and dog leashes that users tie to equipment. Free-swinging ropes not secured at both ends are not recommended. User-added ropes must come off immediately, not at the next inspection.

When no gap or space is greater than 0.04 in, about the thickness of a dime. An open hook catches a drawstring and can strangle a child. A connector with in-fill that completely blocks the interior space is exempt, because clothing cannot get inside it.

A projection whose diameter increases as it moves away from the surrounding surface, which snags clothing and can impale, and a bolt exposing more than two threads beyond the end of the nut. Both are corrected by trimming, capping, or replacing the hardware.

Place each gauge over the projection in turn. Their outside diameters are 1 in, 2 in, and 3.5 in. If the projection extends beyond the face of any one gauge, it is a hazardous protrusion and must be eliminated. Clearing the largest gauge alone does not pass it.

A sliding child's clothing runs along the bed at speed. Anything that fits inside a projection gauge and points away from the slide bed may rise no more than 1/8 in above the surrounding surface, and there must be no gap where the chute meets the platform.

Any opening where the distance between opposing interior surfaces is greater than 3.5 in and less than 9 in. Below 3.5 in the smallest torso cannot enter, so neither can a head; at 9 in or more the largest head passes freely. If one dimension lands in the range, evaluate every dimension together.

Head-first: the child pushes the head through, turns it, and cannot get it back out. Feet-first: the child slides feet into an opening the body passes but the head does not. Both can strangle. Openings low enough for the feet to reach the ground still count.

Try the small torso template first. If it does not fit, the opening passes, because the smallest user at risk cannot enter. If it does fit, the large head template must also pass through. Torso in but head stuck is the failure condition.

No more than 30 pounds on a toddler playground and no more than 50 pounds on preschool- and school-age playgrounds. Flexible openings change shape under load, so a net that measures safe at rest can distort into an entrapment when a child falls into it.

An angle formed by two accessible adjacent parts should be greater than 55 degrees, unless the lowest leg is horizontal or below horizontal. A tighter angle admits the neck but traps the head. Test it with the partially bound template rather than judging by eye.

Could a child get a body part inside the point, and what is the closing force around it? Crush and shear points come from parts that move relative to each other or to a fixed part during a normal use cycle, such as a seesaw fulcrum or a rotating platform.

The general crush and shear probe on the NRPA Table of Dimensions is a 5/8 in (0.62 in) rod. Merry-go-round platform openings are checked with a 5/16 in (0.30 in) rod, and roller slide gaps must stay under 3/16 in (0.19 in). Reaching for the wrong probe passes a gap that will pinch fingers.

When it is within 45 degrees of horizontal and less than 7 ft above the protective surfacing. It must not loop back to form a circle with a 5 in or greater perimeter, and must be fastened at both ends unless it is 7 in or shorter or attached to a swing seat.

A guardrail prevents accidental falls only. A barrier does all three jobs: prevents falls, discourages climbing over, and blocks climbing through, because the small torso probe cannot pass under or through it. A guardrail is not acceptable where a barrier is required.

Preschool: top edge 29 in or higher; guardrail for fall heights over 20 in up to 30 in, barrier above 30 in. School-age: top edge 38 in or higher; guardrail over 30 in up to 48 in, barrier above 48 in. Toddler equipment uses barriers only, 24 in or higher, above 18 in.

F1292 sets impact attenuation and critical height in the laboratory. F3313 is the field test for installed surfaces. F2075 specifies engineered wood fiber and F3012 specifies loose-fill rubber. F1951 measures accessibility, firmness, and stability. F2223 is the guide that ties the surfacing standards together.

An instrumented headform is dropped onto the surface. Peak deceleration, reported as Gmax, must stay at or below 200, and the Head Injury Criterion score must stay at or below 1000. Either one over its limit fails the surface. The outcome is stated as a critical fall height.

The F1292 laboratory test establishes the material's rated critical height under controlled conditions. An F3313 field test measures the surface as installed, on that day, in those conditions; the July 2025 Handbook 325 says installed surfacing should be field tested. Ask the manufacturer for the F1292 test data and keep it in the site file.

Fall height belongs to the equipment: how far its highest designated play surface sits above the surfacing. Critical height belongs to the surfacing: the fall height below which a life-threatening head injury is not expected. Critical height must equal or exceed fall height.

Swings: from the pivot point. Slides: from the transition platform, not the top of the handrail. Merry-go-rounds: from the perimeter of the platform where a child could sit or stand. Measuring from the wrong point under-rates the surfacing the site needs.

Never less than 9 in of compressed loose-fill, except shredded or recycled rubber, where 6 in is recommended. Loose-fill compresses at least 25 percent over time, so a site that needs 9 in of wood chips must be filled to about 12 in at installation.

Sand 4 ft, pea gravel 5 ft, non-CCA wood mulch 7 ft, wood chips 10 ft, each installed at 12 in to compress to 9 in. Rubber mulch reaches 10 ft at 6 in compressed (8 in installed). The 2025 edition labels Table 2 as depths for non-impact-tested loose fill, used only when tested material with a manufacturer's critical height is unavailable.

Asphalt, concrete, dirt, grass, CCA-treated wood mulch, and carpet or mats not tested to ASTM F1292. Grass and dirt fail because wear and weather destroy their shock absorption. Loose-fill should also be avoided on playgrounds intended for toddlers.

Depth under swings and at slide exits, where displacement is fastest. Mark the ideal depth on equipment posts, rake material back into place, and set wear mats flush with the surfacing so they do not trip anyone. Frozen loose-fill loses attenuation, and CPSC recommends children not play on the equipment until it thaws.

Toddlers are 6 through 23 months, preschool-age is 2 through 5 years, and school-age is 5 through 12 years. The overlap at age 5 is deliberate: child development is fluid and caregivers pick playgrounds slightly above or below a child's ability. Inspect to the playground's intended age group.

Fulcrum seesaws and vertical sliding poles are school-age equipment, not preschool. Merry-go-rounds are not for toddler playgrounds at all. Full bucket seat swings are for children under 4 and must be entered and exited with adult help, on a separate bay from belt swings.

Travel routes children take to reach the playground, nearby hazards such as roads or water that need containment, drainage that keeps loose-fill from pooling and compacting, and shade. Dark surfacing in full sun has blistered bare feet, so shade or lighter material matters.

Fasteners and covering devices that cannot loosen or be removed without tools, lock washers or self-locking nuts on all nuts and bolts, smooth connectors that will not lacerate or catch clothing, rounded metal and wood corners, capped tube ends, and finishes that are not a health hazard.

Separate age areas with a buffer zone such as shrubs or benches. Put moving equipment like swings toward a corner or edge. Keep slide exits out of congested areas. Preserve sight lines so caregivers watching younger children can still see the older children's area.

Once a composite structure has 20 or more elevated play components, ramps are required and must connect at least 25 percent of them. At least 50 percent of elevated components must be on an accessible route either way. A transfer platform sits 11 in to 18 in above the surface.

The use zone extends a minimum of 6 ft in all directions from the perimeter of stationary equipment. Two structures may share overlapping zones with at least 6 ft between them when adjacent play surfaces are no more than 30 in high, or at least 9 ft when they are higher.

A single-axis swing needs front and rear zones of at least twice the vertical distance from the pivot point to the surfacing, and those never overlap anything. A slide exit zone never overlaps other equipment either, except that parallel slides may share one: 6 ft for slides 6 ft or lower; above 6 ft the exit zone equals the slide height, capped at 8 ft.

A recalled component can pass every dimensional test and still be a known failure risk, so gauges alone will not find it. Inspectors track CPSC recalls, manufacturer alerts, and IPEMA and industry notices, then check the site history file for affected model numbers and installation dates.

An audit is the comprehensive baseline assessment of the whole play area against the current standards, done once by a qualified inspector and repeated when standards or equipment change. Inspections are the recurring checks that compare today's condition against that baseline.

Every piece of equipment and its manufacturer, model, and age; the specific standard or handbook section each non-compliance violates; the hazard's priority ranking; the recommended corrective action; and the date and identity of the auditor. Findings without a citation are opinions.

It follows a systematic route so nothing is skipped, uses the manufacturer's checklist where one exists (or the general checklist in Handbook 325 Appendix A), and leaves room for what was found and what was done. Whoever performs the inspection signs and dates it. NRPA's Daily Dozen is a 12-point checklist written for parents and caregivers, not an inspector's form.

The manufacturer's recommended schedule first. Beyond that: the type and age of the equipment, how heavily it is used, and the local climate. High-use sites such as schools and child care centers need more frequent checks, especially of surfacing depth.

Routine checks look for the obvious: broken or missing parts, loose bolts and anchoring, cracked plastic, splitting wood, rust and rot, glass and debris, vandalism, user modifications, and displaced or buckled surfacing. Detailed inspections give special attention to moving parts and anything expected to wear.

Do not treat it as exempt. Apply the general performance requirements that reach all equipment: entrapment, protrusion, entanglement, crush and shear, fall height, use zone, and surfacing. Then check the manufacturer's documentation and compare it to the closest listed equipment type.

Follow the manufacturer's instructions and use their replacement parts, since a substituted bolt or clamp can create a new protrusion or entanglement point. Remove user modifications such as ropes tied to equipment immediately. Note every problem found and fix it as soon as possible.

Remove it, or physically block access so it cannot be used. Caution tape alone is not enough; it does not stop a child and it invites a claim that the owner knew and did nothing. Notify the owner promptly in writing and record the date and reason.

Every maintenance inspection and repair record, the manufacturer's maintenance instructions, and any checklist used. The person performing the inspection signs and dates the form. Reports of accidents and injuries on the playground are retained too, because patterns in them expose design defects.

The cumulative record for one play area: design and layout drawings, the equipment and surfacing compliance documents, installation records, every audit and inspection report, all maintenance and repair records, and incident reports. It is the evidence that the owner met its duty over time.

For surfacing: the critical height from ASTM F1292 testing, minimum fill-depth data, toxicity information, and F1951 accessibility data on firmness and stability. For equipment: the specification it was built to, installation instructions, and the installer's confirmation that it was built as specified.

An injury report identifies the hazard or design feature that should be corrected before it repeats. Record what happened, where, the equipment involved, the surfacing condition, and the time. Preserve the scene and the evidence before repairs alter it.

The current ASTM playground standards for equipment, surfacing, and equipment for children 6 through 23 months, together with the CPSC Public Playground Safety Handbook. The CPSI Code of Professional Conduct requires inspectors to work to the most current version, not the one in force at installation.

Hold user safety paramount. Document every non-compliance with the specific standard citation and omit no adverse finding. Advise the owner of seriously dangerous conditions promptly. Never inspect without the owner's knowledge and consent, and never release findings to anyone else without their authorization.