Slip testing floor specialists help businesses comply with safety regulations and protect themselves from costly court cases in the event of a slip accident. They can perform a full risk assessment including a floor pendulum test using HSE permitted equipment and advise clients of potential hazards and any remedial actions required to keep floors safe.
The main cause of slip accidents slip testing floor specialists near me is due to slippery surfaces, especially when a floor is wet, which could lead to someone slipping on the flooring surface and falling over. Regular testing of floors to the required standards is therefore very important in order to avoid these incidents from occurring. There are a variety of different ways in which a floor can be tested for its slip resistance, some of which have proven to be more reliable than others, but all must adhere to the requirements of the British Standard and HSE (Health and Safety Executive).
Pendulum Testing
This is the most accurate way to determine how slippery a floor is under normal walked-on conditions, when the flooring surface is dry and uncontaminated. The pendulum tester uses a device to measure the dynamic co-efficient of friction (DCOF), which is the amount of force needed to overcome a certain amount of inertia and move over the flooring surface. This data is then used to determine the floor’s SCOF and PTV values.
Ramp Testing
This method involves a person wearing cleated workboots and oil being sprayed onto a specific area of the flooring surface that the manufacturer is interested in having tested for its slip resistance. The person then takes four half gait steps forward and backwards on the surface being tested, the angle of the surface is then raised until a person begins to slip, a slope value is recorded and an R rating is given.
Tribometer Testing
This test is carried out on the surface of the flooring to compliment the pendulum test, as it measures the microroughness of a floor’s surface to produce an ‘Rz’ value measured in micrometres. This type of test is useful in detecting when surface profiles have changed and is used in manufacturing processes like metal plating to arrive at a required roughness level.
Although there are many tribometers available on the market, they only have a few test standards to which they must adhere in order to be considered a suitable way of measuring DCOF for use in court cases. Some of these, such as the English XL and Brungraber Mark II and Mark IIIB tribometers, have been shown to be inaccurate and lack any reasonable precision statement.