It is amazing how often both large and small swimming pool decks are installed with no thought to wet slip resistance until falls, sometimes catastrophic, begin to happen. By the time the first serious slip injury happens, the flooring vendor has usually cashed his check and is unconcerned about the problem. Wet bare feet have […]
DCOF Rating for Floors
The latest American slip test for floors is the DCOF rating test method specified in ANSI A326.3. Although this test is a much better test than the now-withdrawn ASTM C1028 that was previously included in the International Building Code, the new test method comes with a great deal of “disclaimers”, including the warning that a […]
Putting Together an Injury and Illness Prevention Program
You’ve read the statistics and you’ve seen the benefits. Now it’s time to assemble an OSHA-compliant Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (or IIPP) and put it in place in your business to help keep your employees safe and healthy. So, how do you go about writing and adopting one company-wide? Safety Direct America is here […]
How to Make Your Shoes Less Slippery
At Safety Direct America, we focus on making surfaces less slippery and easier to walk on with our slip resistance testing and anti-slip coatings. But what if you find yourself at work or in a public place, and discover that your shoes are the real problem? Whether your shoes are slippery because they’re too […]
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. […]
Cobblestones in San Juan PR: America’s Largest Slip Hazard?
As if San Juan and the rest of Puerto Rico didn’t have enough economic and hurricane-damage problems, some of the streets of San Juan are paved with blue 18th-century cobblestones that are very slippery when wet. In November 2017, a cruise passenger from the mainland USA fell and broke his arm (despite being warned about […]
Making Your Home Pool Safer
Swimming pools are an absolute blast! Every kid’s dream is to have a full pool in their own backyard. As fun as they are, though, pools can also be dangerous and scary without proper safety features put into place. We’ve all heard, too often, of tragic accidents that happen in home pools. Those stories make […]
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 — […]
Dal-Tile Recommends Situation-Specific Minimum DCOF AcuTest Values
We have pointed out before that the ANSI A137.1 “DCOF AcuTest” and ANSI A326.3 minimum recommended wet dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF rating) for level wet indoor areas of 0.42 is “one size fits all” and does not consider the use of the flooring — upstairs elevator lobby, commercial kitchen, pool deck, etc. The traction […]
5 Tips For Preventing Bathroom Slips
Slip and fall accidents are some of the most dangerous and costly causes of injuries around the world. And among places where such accidents happen, the bathroom is the most common by a wide margin. To help you protect yourself and your family, your friends at Safety Direct America have put together a few suggestions […]