Archive | Floor slip resistance safety standards

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Germany’s DIN 51130 Slip Test: What’s it Good For?

In Europe, a slip resistance test for flooring is prescribed by German Institute for Normalization (DIN) standard DIN 51130. A person wearing industrial-type treaded shoes walks, facing down slope, on a variable-angle ramp which has the flooring to be tested on it. The flooring is coated with motor oil. The walker (without holding the handrails) […]

SlipAlert Dynamic Floor Friction (DCOF) Test Instrument for $2380!

The SlipAlert dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF) tester has been in wide use for many years but now is offered by Safety Direct America for a limited time at close to half of its previous price! A roller-coaster type of dynamic floor slip resistance tester, SlipAlert’s (now known as the iAlert – same tribometer with […]

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A Review of Standards for Pedestrian Slip Resistance Testing

There are a number of floor slip test methods established by standards-setting organizations that assess pedestrian slip resistance. Here we’ll review the most widely known and current ones. They are distinguished by the devices used in the testing. Terms such as DCOF rating, coefficient of friction, slip coefficient, slip resistance rating, and friction coefficient all […]

Beware of Slippery Finished-in-Place Floors Installed by Clueless Contractors

Some floors are covered with premanufactured stuff, such as marble, granite or ceramic tiles, wood, or vinyl composite tile. Other floors are created in place — including epoxy, terrazzo, and concrete. Topical sealers added to premanufactured floors also constitute a finished-in-place surface — the pedestrian is not walking on the flooring, but on the sealer. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

How does ANSI DCOF compare with Pendulum Test Value?

The most recent American National Standards Institute (ANSI) dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF) test method, ANSI A326.3, states that “hard surface flooring materials suitable for level interior spaces expected to be walked upon when wet with water shall have a wet DCOF of 0.42 or greater when tested … as per this standard.” The older […]

ASTM F2508 and the pendulum slip resistance tester

ASTM F2508 is based on a rigorous scientific study of 11 tribometers (or floor slip resistance test devices) that was held at the University of Southern California Medical Center. The peer-reviewed results were published in 2010 in the Journal of Forensic Sciences. Four tiles were tested with the 11 slip test devices, and later a […]