If someone falls, or claims to have fallen, due to a slip on your premises, the key question from a responsibility standpoint is, were you negligent? And did your negligence contribute to the alleged accident? Here’s how to best assure that you won’t be found negligent. You need to do everything a reasonable person can […]
Archive | Slipping accident prevention
RSS feed for this sectionNew Anti-Slip Floor Design Guidelines Aid in Safe Floor Selection
After consulting with many experts in the USA and abroad, including Safety Direct America, Specialty Architectural Products (SAP) in Toledo, Ohio has distributed four-page design guidelines (Design Guide – Anti-Slip) for floor slip resistance testing. The Slip Resistance Test Guidelines are intended to help building owners, architects, interior designers, specification professionals, and graphic designers, mainly […]
Video Explains IBC Requirements for Floor Slip Resistance
The 2012 International Building Code changed slip resistance requirements for indoor floors that may get wet in use. The previously-used ASTM C 1028 friction test method is obsolete, and testing using the AcuTest method in ANSI A137.1 slip test must show a minimum of 0.42 wet dynamic coefficient of friction — but many other factors […]
“All Floors are Slippery When Wet — Right?”
Not right. The right flooring for the situation can be safely slip-resistant when wet or even when lubricated with oil or grease, as in a commercial kitchen or a parking structure. Most people will accept that a concrete sidewalk or a black-top road is slip-resistant wet for pedestrians. We can safety walk or even jog […]
Falls Deaths in the USA: a 9/11 Every Six Weeks
The National Safety Council’s (NSC) latest published statistics show that falls are causing 28,000 deaths in the USA annually (see p. 19 of their report). This is the equivalent of a 9/11/2001 attack every six weeks, all year long. Moreover, falls deaths are approaching motor-vehicle deaths. Safety Direct America offers products and services that can […]
Natural Stone with Sustainable Slip Resistance Wet
Flooring that gets high foot traffic and can get wet or greasy in use needs slip resistance (or skid resistance) that stands up well under wear rather than losing its wet slip resistance after a few weeks. McDonalds Restaurants spent years in research and devised a laboratory slip test that assesses how well the wet […]
Stop Slips on Cruise Ships!
Since 2008, Safety Direct America has been helping some of the world’s foremost cruise ship companies to prevent slips and falls by helping their designers choose flooring appropriate to the situation (with the correct level of wet coefficient of friction). The work improves safety both on new cruise ships and on ships that are routinely […]
OSHA’s “Suggestion” for Minimum Floor Coefficient of Friction (COF)
We often hear the question, “What does OSHA require for floor slip resistance?” The answer is that OSHA doesn’t require anything, but nevertheless has caused a lot of confusion for employers and the public on this subject. There has never been an official OSHA slip test or safety standard for flooring. In a nonmandatory appendix […]
How to Prevent Slips and Falls on a Swimming Pool Deck
Unfortunately, many swimming pool decks are slippery when wet as installed! This can and too often does lead to severe accidents for both children and adults. The deck that was supposed to supply fun for the family, club members, or the public becomes a liability that causes pain, suffering, expensive medical treatment, and income losses. […]
Slippery Tub Solution
Do you have a slippery tub or shower? Chances are you do! Historically, outdated and unreliable slip resistance test methods were used to determine the slipperiness of tubs in the United States, leading to virtually every tub sold being treacherous to use while wet. Slips and falls in tubs and showers often lead to horrible […]