Sustainable Slip Resistance

  • Surveillance to Detect Slip and Fall Hazards on Commercial Floors

    Surveillance of floors to detect spills, dropped produce, and other hazards is an important part of many safety plans, particularly on floors that have poor wet slip resistance. This includes most floors in customer areas of supermarkets. In one supermarket slip and fall case, a court ruled that inspections every 12 minutes were necessary in…

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  • Financial losses from slip and fall accidents

    Slip and fall accidents are the #1 reason Americans show up at emergency rooms, according to data from the CDC. Slippery floors are a silent epidemic in America, and lawsuits are filed daily across the nation involving major injuries and deaths from slippery floors. Unless the negligent party is the victim’s employer, the victim of…

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  • Roughness and Wet Floor Slip Resistance

    We all know intuitively that roughness has a lot to do with floor slip resistance. Very smooth floors tend to have low wet slip resistance, and to some types of shoe solings (as on some dancing shoes) can have low dry slip resistance too. However, “rough” appearing floors aren’t always slip-resistant, and this has to…

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  • Floor Slip Rating: SCOF vs. DCOF

    Static coefficient of friction (SCOF) was formerly used to measure the slip resistance of a wet floor in the USA, but the test method (ASTM C1028) was withdrawn by the ASTM in 2014. Experts in the USA now know to use dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF), as the rest of the world has been using…

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  • ANSI A326.3 Acutest Does Not Predict Likelihood of Slip

    A widely used floor friction test, American National Standards Institute A326.3, states in its introduction that “it can provide a useful comparison of surfaces, but it does not predict the likelihood a person will or will not slip on a hard surface flooring material.” The test assesses wet dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF) using the…

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  • What’s the Cost of a Slip and Fall on a Commercial Property?

    A recent article in Risk & Insurance (May 2018, p. 32) cites some data for costs of slip and fall claims. Claims can result in a sharp increase in insurance premiums. If the property is self-insured, costs can come directly off profit. Falls among adults are the most common cause of traumatic brain injury. Commercial…

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  • A Caveat about Dal-Tile’s Situation-Specific Minimum DCOF AcuTest Values

    This blog has previously praised Dal-Tile for recognizing that “one size fits all” does not work when it comes to slip resistance standards (or bikinis, for that matter). For instance, Dal-Tile has recommended a minimum ANSI A137.1 DCOF AcuTest wet dynamic coefficient of friction of 0.60 for swimming pool decks, public showers, and locker rooms.…

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  • Why We Offer a “Recommended Tile Slip Test Package”

    Why We Offer a “Recommended Tile Slip Test Package”

    When our clients ask for an ANSI/NFSI A137.1 test we often recommend that they order a pendulum test as well. The pair of floor slip resistance tests is popular, and we offer a discounted price of $477.00 (for lab testing) when they are ordered together. The reason has to do with the A137.1 standard —…

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  • ANSI Issuing Another Standard Slip Test Method for Flooring Materials – and It Also Shouldn’t be Used as a Safety Assessment

    The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is issuing a new test method, with minimum dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF rating), for slip resistance of hard flooring materials, and it should never be used to assess the slip resistance safety of a floor. No minimum DCOF is provided for exterior applications. The BOT-3000E digital tribometer is…

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  • Fixing Your Slippery Epoxy/Polyurea/Polyaspartic Floor

    In the video below, we discuss fixing slippery epoxy floors, slippery polyaspartic floors, and slippery polyurea floors quickly and easily with SparkleTuff Anti-Slip Floor Treatment, which requires to special preparation to the epoxy floor whatsoever. We are continually amazed at how often contractors will install an epoxy (or polyurea or polyaspartic) floor coating (especially to…

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