Wet Testing Matters
It is important to understand the wet slip risk of any floor that may ever become wet. Testing has shown that wet slip risk is un-related to dry slip risk, so improving the specification for dry slip resistance may not make the floor safer when wet.
Water and Other Contamination
You need to be aware that water may combine with other contamination in different ways and that will affect the slip risk of your floors. Water on top of grease or oil will increase the slip risk considerably. Water on a dirty floors may be more or less slippery than water on a clean floor... depending on the nature of the dirt and how it nixes with the water.
Testing Wet + Dry and "As Found"
It is always helpful to test floors before and after cleaning and to to test the different conditions the floor may experience in normal use. Test the floor "as found", then test again "as found" plus water wet. Afterr the floor has been cleaned and dries it is possible to compare the clean dry and clean wet results with the "as found" measures.
Advanced Slip Testing Techniques
In normal testing, you should take care to clean the slider with absorbant paper between each test, however, there can be value in conducting additional tests where contaminant is allowed to gather on the slider to determine the range of risk if the floor were more contaminated. Wet tests can also be modified to determine the slip risk as the floor dries.
For more information on advanced slip testing teechniques... contact SlipAlert or book on one of our certificate level training workshops.
Wet or Dry Testing
If you wish to obtain the value of µ in the dry, the test is done in the dry. If you wish to obtain the value of µ in the wet, then simply wet the floor in the area where SlipAlert will run.
You can use water to wet the floor if you want to find out how the floor behaves when water-wet, or any other lubricant you choose in order to find out how the floor behaves under that particular lubricant. A lubricant is not necessarily wet; dust, flour and many contaminants act as a lubricant.
Portability
SlipAlert weighs 5kg, so anyone can carry and use it. If the floor is very slippery, then expect it to travel 1 metre or more across the floor from the bottom of the ramp. With most floors it will only run 0.5 metres or so.
So Simple...
It looks simple and it works simply, but SlipAlert's simple design and operation is based on a complex interaction between weight, velocity, slider properties, size, etc., which is tailored to accurately mimic the effect of a person slipping.
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