ASTM F3740-25

1.1 This guide for sports facility padding 

describes wall and fixed object padding practices in and around indoor and outdoor overall playing areas for sports and recreation. This guide intends to inform owners, facility operators, and designers/installers of the performance properties and material components of sports padding to be considered when selecting wall and fixed object padding, where other standards from sports-governing bodies or sports associations are not available.

1.2 This guide directs its user to other sources 

such as ASTM Standards (Specifications, Test Methods and Practices), that offer numerous testing options to determine the performance properties of the different padding components separately and as a whole at any chosen time in the life-cycle of the product. It identifies other standards organizations, sports-governing bodies, and other sports associations that can offer additional guidance for sports padding.

1.3 This guide does not apply to 

horizontal surface padding, such as; wrestling mats (see Specification F1081), weightlifting and fitness floor mats. This guide is of general interest to all sport activities, but does not specifically apply to special sports equipment padding or extreme sports padding. It does not apply to climbing wall padding, trampoline equipment padding, pole-vault padding, gymnastics, cheerleading padding, skateboarding, roller sports, and bicycling. This guide does not apply to snow sports venues, such as recreational and sport ski and snowboard venues, luge, and skeleton venues. This guide does not apply to amusement rides and adventure venues. Those guidelines for these activity areas may be addressed by other ASTM committees, governing bodies for those sports and sports associations for those particular recreational activities.

1.4 This guide is not a specification 

for the properties of the pad itself. Impact attenuation for indoor padding3 is addressed in Specification F2440. Head injuries are one of the most serious injuries that can occur during an impact, therefore the ability of a padding system to reduce the likelihood of head injuries is critical; that is its primary purpose. Specification F2440 for indoor padding, allows users to quantify the impact in terms of G-max values and the Head Injury Criterion (HIC) values from specified drop heights (see Test Method F355), and specifies the maximums for impact attenuation. In addition to looking at impact attenuating testing, this guide identifies numerous other material testing standards for other properties and characteristics of indoor and outdoor padding. Look to other standards referred to in this guide for test methods and specifications.

1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety, health, and environmental practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

1.6 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.

5.1 During the normal course of play, it is foreseeable that impacts between the athlete and walls or other fixed objects will occur. Such impacts pose a potential threat of injury to the athlete. Padding is one product used to “protect” and reduce the likelihood of both head and other physical injuries. Padding will not eliminate the risk of injury. Specification F2440 addresses the issue of Impact Attenuation for sports wall padding and testing wall padding for its impact attenuation properties (maximum HIC and G-max). There are many other properties of the padding system and its components that play a significant role in the performance of sports padding. Depending on the sport and the proximity of the walls or fixed objects, the type of padding and the layout of that padding is likely to differ. The characteristics of the padding play an important role in the consistent, long-term performance of sports wall padding. This includes characteristics such as UV stability, moisture resistance, mold and mildew resistance, and other characteristics listed herein.