Saturday, May 13, 2017

Blair High School needs new artificial surface field

Why didn't M-NCPPC know the Blair High School artificial turf field was unsafe?  The field was being tested annually.  Didn't M-NCPPC read the reports on the field?


March 2017
SILVER SPRING – Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is having Montgomery Blair High School’s artificial turf field replaced after a retest showed the field was unsafe and within a year of the end of its useful life.
John Nissel, deputy director of operations, said the warrantee for the field managed by M-NCPPC is due to expire in August.
“It’s like if you buy a car and it wears out before the warrantee; it’s certainly not what you paid for,” said Nissel, referring to the field lasting seven years and four months.

He said M-NCPPC had planned to replace the field about 10 years after FieldTurf installed it.
The field is supposed to last eight years from the date of installation, according to the warrantee.

M-NCPPC hired Shaw Sports Turf to replace the field, including organic infill made from coconut to replace the crumb rubber, Nissel said.

He said M-NCPPC would not have known that the old field was unsafe for play if a parent hadn’t contacted the field company FieldTurf to say she saw excess black crumb rubber laying on the surface of the field. FieldTurf then met with the parent.

“The fibers start to break down, what you’re seeing is a lot of crumb rubber, so that raised an eyebrow with us,” Nissel said. “When they came out and did the test and we did the subsequent test, we felt that there was an issue.”...

...“Due to the excessive consistent fiber wear, compacted infill and surface infill, we do not recommend competition use of this surface until implementation of proper professional maintenance services to address the items noted within this report as well as improve the conditions of this athletic field,” Teeter said in his report from Oct. 14. “The severely worn fibers are not able to withstand proper routine maintenance by the owner due the fragile fibers shearing off the surface of the infill.”
M-NCPPC closed the field as soon as it received the report Oct. 18, Nissel said.

“Failing g-max is the biggest concern when you do a field test like that. When you fail a g-max test then you subject your players to a concussion (risk),” Nissel said...

http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/news/local/item/4905-blair-high-school-needs-new-artificial-surface-field

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