SAT works better with SlipAlert

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Slips Assessment Test (SAT)

SAT is a software programme from the UK HSE that allows you to assess your floor safety. It covers 10 different aspects that will affect floor safety such as how often you clean the floor, the level and type of contamination, whether people use slip resistant shoes, etc. click here to visit the HSE SAT website or download SAT

SAT and SlipAlert (or Pendulum)

You can use SAT with pendulum readings instead of roughness readings. You will get largely the same output except that the slip resistance column will be more meaningful.

SAT, SlipAlert and the future

We'd like the HSE to develop SAT to work with PTV or STV (SlipAlert Test Value results. We'd also like it to be developed to allow you to record measuremenst over time and plot changes in your floors. What do you think? Fill in our SAT development survey now.

How to use SAT with SlipAlert or Pendulum

When you are asked to insert 10 readings from your roughness meter you can instead insert PTV readings (Pendulum Test Value) these can be obtained from a Pendulum or from SlipAlert. You must either enter just five readings and five zeros or you must half the PTV readings (the effect is the same). Now proceed through SAt as nnormal.

SAT with PTV Readings

SAT's assessment of slip risk is based on the PTV scale or dynamic co-efficient of friction. A PTV of 40 or more is considered safe and a PTV of 20 or less is considered very unsafe. SAT has used a simple theoretical concept that Rz readings are roughly half the equivalent PTV reading. The disclaimer on the SAT software will remind you that this simple relationship does not always follow. Your output with halved PTV readings should be at least as good as with Rz readings.

SAT input screen for slip resistance measures

Note: the average PTV entered was around 32 and the system has generated an average of half of that ie 16.

SAT output

Micro Surface Roughness

There are different ways to measure the roughness of a surface, but there is little evidence that it is a useful measure of slip resistance. What do you think of roughness as a tool to improve floor safety?

SAT and floor safety menu

SAT covers 10 factors that will affect the safety of your floors... see SAT menu. These are all important factors when consider slip risks. One caveat, none of these factors will help you to assess how the coefficient of friction of a floor may change over time.

Roughness cannot detect contamination

Micro surface roughness measures will remain unaffected by contamination making it useless as a way of measuring the effectiveness of cleaning regimes or as a tool to explain why one area of a floor appears to be a slip hazard. Click here to learn more about roughness

Roughness and Pendulum

Measures of roughness have poor correlation with the Pendulum. To read more about why it roughness is of little value in floor safety testing click here.

RZ and RA Roughness

Rz and RA are 2 forms of roughness measurement. neither correlates well with the Pendulum and neither will tell you anything about contamination.

Roughness and poor cleaning...

Contamination makes no difference to the roughness measure of a surface, and so measuring roughness offers no value in testing your cleaning regime.

Slip Accident Blackspot and roughness

From time to time an area of your floor may become a slip accident blackspot. When you first observe a slip or a small number of slips i the same area of floor, you may wish to test the area of floor to discover if that area of floor has become dangerous. It may have been caused by a spill that has not been cleaned properly and has made that area of floor slippery. In these situations roughness measures will not help you. You need SlipAlert.

Roughness, spills and contamination

Spills and contamination are one of the biggest causes of floors becoming slippery.

Roughness and SAT

The HSE suggest using roughness measures with SAT, the Slips Assessment tool. Hover the logic for SAt was based on the PTV values of 20 = poor slip resistance and 40 = very good slip resistance.

SlipAlert / Pendulum and SAT

The SAT programme uses these points of reference and a notional correlation of 2:1 between Rz and PTV. It would make more sense to use pendulum-correlated vales (from a Pendulum or SlipAlert) and then half the value and enter into SAT.

Rough Luck...

A floor being rough does not mean that it is not slippery. Nor is it always true that a floor that is smooth must necessarily be slippery. Some of our clients have discovered this to their cost. Don't trust your luck by measuring roughness when you can get a much more reliable and accurate reading from your SlipAlert.

SlipAlert is the easiest, most reliable way to check that your floors are safe.

SlipAlert better than roughness... (HSE)

“SlipAlert is able to distinguish between a given floor surface in clean condition and in a contaminated condition. This is a key advantage of SlipAlert compared with using surface micro roughness and makes it ideal for monitoring the effectiveness of cleaning” UK HSE