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 […]
Tag Archives: Sustainable Slip Resistance
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 […]
What’s the Difference Between the Three ANSI standards for floor slip resistance?
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has three pedestrian floor friction standards involving tests using the BOT-3000E digital tribometer, intended for testing flooring for indoor use. Why do they have three standards, and what’s the difference between them? They all have different test methods and different minimum coefficient of friction values (0.42, 0.43, and 0.60). […]
Three Common Fallacies about Floor Slip Resistance
There are three widely-held misconceptions about pedestrian slip resistance. If you’re aware of them it can help you avoid a nasty, expensive, and possibly life-changing surprise. Fallacy #1: “If a floor has a matte finish — that is, it’s not “shiny” —, it won’t be slippery when wet.” Truth is, many floors that have a matte […]
Situation-Specific Floor Slip Resistance Testing Standards
In the USA, pedestrian slip resistance standards for flooring have traditionally been pass-fail. For instance, a coefficient of friction (COF) of 0.60 might be considered “safe” but 0.59 was “not safe.” This applied to any situation provided the floor was level. Recently the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has published some standards that are a […]