Slip and Fall Expert Witness

John C. Sotter
President

Consultant and Expert Witness — Slip, Trip and Fall
SOTTER ENGINEERING CORPORATION

26705 Loma Verde
Mission Viejo, CA 92691-6055

TELEPHONE: 949-933-6971

Email: [email protected]

 

 

Curriculum Vitae

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John Sotter has tested more than 2,000 floors over 14 years in 42 states for floor slip resistance, and issued written reports on all of them. He has given numerous lunch-and-learn presentations to architects across the USA about the new IBC building code slip resistance requirements.

He is also a member of the United Kingdom’s Slip Resistance Group (UKSRG), which conducts research into slips and falls and helps develop slip resistance standards throughout Europe. He is also one of the three founders of the American Floor Safety Alliance (AFSA), which publishes floor slip resistance test methods based on the European Union, United Kingdom, and Australian pendulum testing methodologies.

John’s participation in several international slip resistance proficiency testing programs, which included laboratories from multiple nations testing identical surfaces, has demonstrated that he is among the most precise slip resistance testers in the world today.

John calibrates pendulum testers after receiving training in the United Kingdom from a major pendulum manufacturer. He has since calibrated pendulum testers for private corporations and governmental agencies in several countries.

PUBLICATIONS:

“The Expert Witness Problem Hiding in America’s Slip-and-Fall Cases”, National Law Review, August, 2026

“The Floor Beneath Your Feet Has Been Compromised, and Paid Expertise Holds the Blame”, International Business Times, May 2026

“Specifying Anti-Slip Floor Coatings”, Coatings Pro Magazine, March 2020, pg. 24

“The New Slip Resistance Requirements in IBC” , Construction Specifier, July 2016, pg. 72

PUBLICATIONS ABOUT ME:

“John Sotter’s Mission to Make America’s Floors Safer Through Science and Engineering”, July 2026

“John Sotter Determines The Real Cost Of A Wet Floor: Why Prevention Beats The Price Of A Lawsuit”, Benzinga, July 15, 2026

“John Sotter’s Relentless Pursuit for a Safer America”, USA Today, June 2026

“America’s Aging Population Is Sitting on a Slip-and-Fall Time Bomb, Alerts Floor Safety Expert John Sotter”, LA Weekly, June 2026

“John Sotter Highlights America’s Floor Problem, Striving to Redefine the Country’s Floor Safety Standards”, International Business Times, May 2026

CEO Monthly: Engineering Safer Surfaces: How Safety Direct America is Redefining Slip Prevention, March 2026

Numerous educational blog posts (and you should go through each of them carefully, because these are based on 40 years of John’s own research) published at https://safetydirectamerica.com/author/johnsotter/

Numerous educational videos published at https://www.youtube.com/user/safetydirectamerica/videos

J. GEORGE SOTTER, P.E., Ph.D.

Engineering Consultant — Slip, Trip and Fall
SOTTER ENGINEERING CORPORATION

Curriculum Vitae

Download his full Curriculum Vitae

Academic Background: Ph.D., University of Sheffield, England
B.S., Pennsylvania State University

Recent Experience: Consultant/expert witness in slip/trip and fall litigation; experience in locations ranging from Japan and Guam to Bermuda. Project Manager and Principal Investigator of OSHA-driven one-man-year project to minimize slipping incidents on construction-site steel products. Laboratory and field testing of pedestrian surfaces for slip resistance. Consultant to Carnival Cruise Lines in slip reduction

Professional Affiliations: Member of eight national organizations, in two nations, relevant to slip resistance affiliations of pedestrian surfaces. Chairman, Ceramic Tile Institute of America’s Slip Resistance Committee

Member of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Publications: Book, STOP Slip and Fall Accidents! 203 pp., Sotter Engineering Corporation, 2000, www.amazon.com, ISBN 0-9676030-0-5

“Specifying Anti-Slip Floor Coatings”, March 2020, pg. 24

“How to Buy Flooring Having Sustainable Slip Resistance,” The National Hotel Motel Engineer Association magazine, Winter 2011

“How to Buy Flooring Having Sustainable Slip Resistance,” U.S. Government’s Center for Disease Control, NIOSH International Conference on Fall Prevention and Protection 2010 in Morgantown, WV on May19, 2010.

“Resonant Combustion in Rockets,” Scientific American, December 1968

Author of over 35 papers, articles and other publications in technical trade magazines, international symposia, and archive journals. Includes several addressing pedestrian falling accidents

Registrations, Certifications: Licensed as a Professional Engineer (Chemical) by State of California Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (current, since 1971), and (on as-needed basis) five other states.

Experience: More than 50 years in consulting and engineering. Slip-and-fall forensic consulting for both plaintiff and defense, in roughly equal proportions.