The slip risk of a floor changes - more than you may think...
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The floor surface may be altered by accident or by design
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The slip risk of any one floor can change in the course of a day, a week or a year, or it may stay virtually the same throughout its life
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Changes to the floor surface caused by wear (pedestrian traffic, vehhicles, trolleys) or even changes to the floor surface caused by the cleaning method
Slip Risk Numbers
SlipAlert Test Value (STV) |
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Wet Slip Risk |
Low Risk |
Low Risk |
Manageable |
Manageable |
High Risk |
Suitable for |
Very Wet |
Wet Areas |
Transitional Areas - can occasionally become wet |
Areas kept largely dry |
Dry Areas |
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PTV |
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CoF
(Co-efficient of Friction) |
> 0.40 |
0.39- 0.36 |
0.35 - 0.24 |
0.23 - 0.19 |
<0.18 |
Variations on a Floor
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The floor surface (and slip risk) may be changed by coatings, polishes, treatments or wear
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Contaminants may bond to the floor surface (e.g. Algae on an outdoor floor
Variation Over Time
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On some floors the slip risk can change significantly in the course of each day (e.g. a kitchen)
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Wear, coatings, polishing or contamination may change the slip risk progressively
The Effects of Wear on Slip Risk
Did you know?...
A safe floor has less than a 1 in 1 million risk, while a high risk floor has 1 in 2 risk i.e. on a high risk floor most people in normal shoes will need to modify their gait to avoid slipping.
Case Study: A Shopping Mall
After 10 years with no serious slip injuries, a shopping mall reported several serious slip injuries and 6 broken limbs in one day. This type of change is very common. Many businesses enjoy years without serious slip injuries. A small change to the cleaning regime, cleaning fuids, cleaning machines or perhaps a different fiinish applied to the floor can make a big difference.
In this case, a change to cleaning had caused the slip risk to rise significantly.
Monitoring the slip risk over time will prevent many slip accidents.
Monitoring slip risk takes seconds and will prevent injuries
Abnormally high risk on one area of floor
Some shopping malls monitor random areas of floor every day. If one area of floor measures a higher risk than the others it results in re-cleaning that area and greater care of future cleaning.
Slowly Rising Risk
Some swimming pools notice rising levels of slip risk over time. This can be caused by a build up of body fats that normal cleaning does not remove. Without slip test data , the floor would be an accident waiting to happen.
Most slip accidents can be anticipated and therefore prevented.
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