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Periodic (quarterly) floor slip resistance (coefficient of friction) testing/monitoring, or walkway safety audits, using the latest in slip resistance test methods and standards can have these benefits:

• Help prevent slipping accidents
• Provide quality control on the slip resistance that results from your floor maintenance
• Detect unseen slippery deposits resulting from tracked-in grease from parking areas or airborne grease from cooking; airborne construction dust; or wax particles from burnishing
• Detect maintenance problems before they become serious
• Provide documentation of your due diligence
• Test remediation methods for your floor maintenance personnel to implement
• Discourage plaintiff attorneys who suspect you were negligent

Get your floors tested now!

Our floor slip-resistance testing (or walkway safety auditing) can be both dry or dry and wet where appropriate. Many floors are perfectly safe when clean and dry although they are slippery when wet. If a floor is dry more than 98 percent of the time it is in use, dry testing alone may be adequate. If a floor or footwear are likely to be wet in use from tracked-in rain and snow, dripping umbrellas or raincoats, swimming pool water, etc., both dry and wet slip-resistance monitoring are called for. We can monitor the slip resistance of your floor with DCOF testing with both hard and soft rubber test feet, representing dress shoes and athletic shoes (or bare feet) respectively.

A dry floor may be perfectly safe, but that won’t stop pedestrians from suing for a fall that may have been caused not by your floor but by their footwear, impairment by alcohol or by legal or illegal drugs, by various medical conditions — or simply by the claimant’s creativity. Your due diligence defends you against charges of negligence, and that’s the key word in a lawsuit. Your floor slip resistance test monitoring records can sometimes be the only defense you need to discourage frivolous or fraudulent lawsuits.

Frequency of floor slip-resistance testing/monitoring

The appropriate frequency of traction auditing, or slip resistance monitoring, depends on several factors. Many property owners specify quarterly monitoring (walkway safety audits) because that’s a typical turnover period for floor maintenance personnel. Cleaning processes affect the slip resistance of a floor surface, and therefore regular maintenance practices aimed at retaining slip resistance need to be specified.

High-traffic areas need frequent walkway auditing because of the importance that wear, soiling, and improper maintenance practices can have on slip resistance. For low-traffic areas, annual walkway audits may be sufficient. For any area, from a due diligence standpoint occasional monitoring is far better than none at all.

Data quality

Accurate data from a validated tribometer (floor slip test instrument) brings accountability to the process and provides certified results to assist in your defense should anyone claim a slip on your flooring. The University of Southern California Medical Center, American National Standards Institutue (ANSI), Tile Council of North America (TCNA), and the Ceramic Tile Institute of America (CTIOA) endorse our tribometers. We can test slip resistance with the ASTM E303 pendulum DCOF test, and others. Give us a call for recommendations on which slip resistance test is most appropriate for your situation.

You need a reliable, well-qualified and responsible company for this important work. Sotter Engineering Corporation was founded in 1987 and incorporated in 1991. We are certified by the City of Los Angeles (one of the few governmental agencies in the US that certify floor slip resistance testers) to test slip resistance of floors. Our slip testing/monitoring reports, or walkway safety audits, are signed and stamped by a California-licensed Professional Engineer.