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) … Continue reading “Germany’s DIN 51130 Slip Test: What’s it Good For?”
Tag: slip coefficient
Many Polished Concrete Floors are Slippery when Wet
Can polished concrete floors be slippery when wet? Several web sites say yes, but others (mostly polished concrete vendors) say no, it only looks that way. A study of polished concrete published by the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC) in Concrete International shows wet dynamic coefficients of friction (DCOF) as measured by ANSI A137.1 … Continue reading “Many Polished Concrete Floors are Slippery when Wet”
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 … Continue reading “A Review of Standards for Pedestrian Slip Resistance Testing”
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 … Continue reading “New Study Shows Sotter Engineering to be one of World’s Most Accurate Pendulum Floor Slip Test Labs”
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 … Continue reading “Financial losses from slip and fall accidents”
Test Your New Pool Deck’s Slip Resistance BEFORE Opening the Pool!
It is amazing how often both large and small swimming pool decks are installed with no thought to wet slip resistance until falls, sometimes catastrophic, begin to happen. By the time the first serious slip injury happens, the flooring vendor has usually cashed his check and is unconcerned about the problem. Wet bare feet have … Continue reading “Test Your New Pool Deck’s Slip Resistance BEFORE Opening the Pool!”
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 … Continue reading “DCOF Rating for Floors”