The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that floors accessible to disabled persons be “slip-resistant”, but does not define what that means. Apparently it’s up to property owners and the courts to decide. But there is a reliable way of assessing slip resistance that is recognized the world over to help comply with ADA slip […]
Archive | Slip Resistance Testing
RSS feed for this sectionSafety Direct America Calibrates Pendulum Skid Testers from Far and Wide
Like any scientific or engineering instrument, the pendulum skid tester (also sometimes called the British pendulum or pendulum slip tester) should be calibrated at least once annually. Safety Direct America, a subsidiary of Sotter Engineering Corporation, is the leading calibrator of pendulum skid testers in the Americas. We calibrate the pendulum using the latest British […]
British Government Lab Rates Footwear Slip Resistance
For work environments where there’s a risk of slipping, it’s prudent to consider mandating slip-resistant footwear for employees, and possibly providing them with help in obtaining them. Some cruise ship companies have stores on board their ships where crew members can get slip-resistant footwear. Other companies provide financial assistance. Footwear in a slippery floor environment […]
Slip Resistance Standard for Swimming Pools, Spas, Hot Tubs, Splash Pads, etc.
The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), together with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and National Standard of Canada (CAN) established a slip resistance standard for recreational water facilities. Formalized in NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 – 2019, the standard requires a wet Slip Resistance Value, SRV, of 40 or greater, measured using the pendulum slip resistance test method. Though […]
SDA Can Offer Foreign Insurance if Needed
As pointed out elsewhere in these pages, Safety Direct America has general liability and professional liability (Errors and Omissions) to cover our floor slip resistance testing work for clients located in the USA. However, we often do laboratory or field floor slip test work for foreign clients, sometimes on their own premises, e.g. in Canada […]
Suggested Specifications for Lifetime Slip Resistance of Flooring
When we’re buying new automobile tires we’d like to know not only that the tires are good at the time of purchase, but that they will have a reasonably long lifetime for us. Michelin, for instance, offers models with mileage warranties (within a time limit) from 36,000 to 80,000 miles. When buying slip-resistant flooring, customers […]
How to Get Reliable and Useful Floor Slip Resistance Test Results
Slip and fall injuries can carry total liabilities that are often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars or even more. Investment in flooring is long-term and often involves appreciable capital, whether you are an individual homeowner or have a string of large office buildings and shopping centers. Though the charges for floor slip resistance […]
Safety Direct America is Still Running at (almost) Full Speed
At this writing the death toll of Americans from COVID-19 is over 34,000. With the world upside down, the last thing you need is to have a slip-and-fall accident. Falls cause 28,000 premature deaths in the USA every year. Most of these deaths (some of which occur prematurely but months after the fall) are due […]
BOT-3000E Manufacturer Advises Against Using ANSI/NFSI B101.3 and B101.1 to Assess Floor Slip Resistance
The manufacturer of the BOT-3000E digital tribometer is Regan Scientific Instruments of Carrollton (Dallas), Texas. Recently we asked Regan for an update on ANSI B101.3, “Test Method for Measuring Wet DCOF of Common Hard-Surface Floor Materials,” approved January 18, 2012, and ANSI/NFSI B101.1. We received a reply from Peter Ermish, President. Here’s part of his […]
Maximum Coefficient of Friction is not Limited to 1.00
It’s sometimes assumed that coefficient of friction (COF) has a maximum theoretical and practical value of 1.00. This isn’t true; there is no maximum. It is true that values exceeding 1.00 are so slip-resistant that their actual value is often of little interest. Some COF measuring instruments, such as BOT-3000E and English XL, are not […]