At Safety Direct America, we have been experts in pendulum floor slip resistance testing for well over two decades. We calibrate pendulum slip resistance testers for companies and government agencies around the world, and we made most of the updates to the latest version of the American test method for use of the pendulum dynamic […]
Tag Archives: floor slip resistance testing
View English XL and Mark IIIB Floor Friction Data with Suspicion
A recent paper published by Siegmund et al. called “Quantifying the uncertainty in tribometer measurements on walkway surfaces” states that data from the English XL and Brungraber Slip-Test Mark IIIB are “less accurate than they appear.” This is in part because the user is “a key component to the system,” influencing the numerical outcome of […]
Polished Floors Are Slippery When Wet – No Matter What Your American-Made Slip Resistance Test Device Says!
Reliable floor slip resistance test devices include the pendulum floor slip resistance tester and the SlipAlert Tribometer (now known as the iAlert), which both measure the dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF) of floors. In the United States of America, we have in the past (and present) allowed tile manufacturers and people who make their living […]
Myth Busted: More Grout Lines Does Not Make a Floor More Slip Resistant
There’s a myth that tile manufacturers (especially manufacturers that sell tiny tiles) want you to believe, but it’s just a myth. There’s no science or proof behind the statement that more grout lines makes a floor safer. More grout lines doesn’t actually add any slip resistance to a floor with tiny slippery tiles on it, […]
New Australian Study Shows Sotter Engineering (Safety Direct America) is World’s Top Pendulum Floor Slip Resistance Testing Laboratory
A few years ago Sotter Engineering Corporation’s Safety Direct America (SDA) floor slip resistance testing laboratory participated in a global interlaboratory program that showed SDA to be one of the world’s three most accurate labs in use of the pendulum floor slip resistance tester. The pendulum is a national standard for pedestrian floor and tile […]
SCOF Testing Never Has Been and Never Will Be Relevant To Assessing Floor Slip Resistance
Floor coefficient of friction (COF) testing is the measuring of the slip resistance of a flooring surface. The static coefficient of friction (SCOF) is the force required to start an object moving relative to the surface, divided by the weight of the object on the floor. It is a measure of the resistance to sliding […]
Abandoned, Withdrawn and Flawed Floor Slip Resistance Test Methods Continue to Plague the USA
Slip and fall accidents can have serious consequences, leading to injuries and even fatalities. That’s why it’s crucial to ensure the safety of floors, particularly in public areas such as shopping centers, hotels, and hospitals. However, not all floor slip resistance testing techniques are created equal, and some American tests have even been withdrawn or […]
America’s Floor Slip Resistance Testing Experts
We’ve tested flooring for the dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF) and slip resistance all over North America and beyond for well over 1,000 individual clients so far as America’s leading independent third-party certified floor friction test lab. We don’t lie in court for slip and fall lawyers (like those who mainly use the Brungraber Mark […]
ASTM E303-22 Revolutionizes Floor Slip Resistance Testing in the USA
Floor slip resistance tests in the USA have historically been written by the members of the ASTM F13 committee. Comprised mostly of expert “liars for hire” that exclusively work for slip and fall attorneys, and representatives of the flooring industry, these tests have been based on either no science, or very little shady science. The […]
ADA Slip Resistance Requirements
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 […]