Floor slip resistance testing is an essential process for ensuring safety in public spaces, workplaces, and homes. It helps to identify the level of slip resistance (or COF) of a floor surface, which is crucial in preventing injuries resulting from avoidable slips and falls. The most common floor slip resistance testing technique around the world […]
Tag Archives: COF test
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 […]
What’s the Cost of a Slip and Fall on a Commercial Property?
A recent article in Risk & Insurance (May 2018, p. 32) cites some data for costs of slip and fall claims. Claims can result in a sharp increase in insurance premiums. If the property is self-insured, costs can come directly off profit. Falls among adults are the most common cause of traumatic brain injury. Commercial […]
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 Although this test is a much better test than the now-withdrawn ASTM C1028 that was previously included in the International Building Code, the new test method comes with a great deal of “disclaimers”, including the warning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 […]
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 $387.00 (for lab testing) when they are ordered together. The reason has to do with the A137.1 standard — […]
Slip Resistance of Basketball and Volleyball Floors
Floors for indoor sports (basketball, volleyball, gym, etc.) need careful attention to their dry slip resistance. Players must have enough traction to start and stop quickly, yet not so much that they can’t pivot rapidly. Fortunately, there are well-defined and long-accepted standards for the slip resistance of these floors, using the pendulum skid testing instrument […]
Slip Resistance of Floor Graphics
The September/October 2016 edition of SGIA Journal (Special Graphic Imaging Association), pp 89–92 has an article, “New Slip Resistance Specifications — Are You in Compliance?”, by the Marketing Manager of Mactac Distributor Products (“Technology that Sticks”, including indoor and outdoor floor graphics). He discusses the following about American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standard B101.3: […]
Cofficient of Friction and Probability of Slip
Analysis published many years ago by Pye of Britain’s Building Research Establishment quotes the probability of a slip (not a fall or injury) as varying with the coefficient of friction (COF) between the shoe and floor as follows: COF Risk, 1 in … 0.40 1,000,000 0.38 100,000 0.34 10,000 0.31 […]
Article published in The Construction Specifier magazine talks slip resistance
John C. Sotter and George Sotter of Safety Direct America were published in the July issue of The Construction Specifier magazine with an article talking about floor slip resistance and keeping floors safe for pedestrians. The article talks about the latest International Building Code (IBC) requirements for slip resistance, and its limitations as far as […]
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 […]