An important part of ensuring the safety of stairs is making sure the steps are clearly visible. This is especially true for commercial properties, but can also be crucial for private homes — particularly if the occupants are visually impaired to some extent. You should conform to, or exceed, your local building code, but if … Continue reading “Making Your Stairs Safer”
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Let’s be Careful on Stairs!
Accidents on stairs can be serious and even fatal. We need to be attentive and play it safe. Always hold the handrail or (if you fear colds and flu) keep a free hand close to the handrail so you can grab it at any time. Hand sanitizer can help reduce the chance of getting sick, … Continue reading “Let’s be Careful on Stairs!”
The Crooked Expert Witness
Too often litigation is influenced by testimony from an “expert witness” who is “crooked as a hound dog’s hind leg.” More than a century and a half ago, English judges started complaining about the lack of independence and objectivity when hearing expert evidence. That lament was aptly illustrated in the case of Lord Arbinger v … Continue reading “The Crooked Expert Witness”
The Five-Second Check of Stair Rise and Run
Because falls on stairs can cause especially severe injuries and even deaths, building codes for stairs are very stringent. When we use stairs that are properly constructed, we can walk with ease and converse at the same time, nearly unaware that our feet are performing a rather complex operation. Ease and safety depend on each … Continue reading “The Five-Second Check of Stair Rise and Run”
New Study Shows Sotter Engineering to be one of World’s Most Accurate Pendulum Floor Slip Test Labs
A recent global interlaboratory program “Slip Resistance Proficiency Testing — Pendulum Friction Tester,” showed Sotter Engineering Corporation’s Safety Direct America (SDA) floor slip resistance testing laboratory to be one of the world’s most accurate in use of the pendulum skid tester. The pendulum is a national standard for pedestrian floor and tile slip resistance testing … Continue reading “New Study Shows Sotter Engineering to be one of World’s Most Accurate Pendulum Floor Slip Test Labs”
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 … Continue reading “Financial losses from slip and fall accidents”
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 … Continue reading “Roughness and Wet Floor Slip Resistance”
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 … Continue reading “Floor Slip Rating: SCOF vs. DCOF”
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 … Continue reading “ANSI A326.3 Acutest Does Not Predict Likelihood of Slip”
What Makes a Good Safety Floor?
No matter the type of facility you operate, safety is important, and one of the more universal safety concerns is slips and falls. This can be a problem around entrances where people track in water from outside, or in areas of food preparations that are slick from frequent cleaning. The best way to mitigate these … Continue reading “What Makes a Good Safety Floor?”