Health and safety at work act and other regulations relating to safety at work

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, Section 2 (2)(d)

The law requires that every employer shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, maintain every workplace, including access to and egress from it, so that it is safe and without risk
to health.

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 , also referred to as HASAW or HSW, is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in the United Kingdom. The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for enforcing the Act and a number of other Acts and Statutory Instruments relevant to the working environment.

It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees. Slip ad fall accidents account for one third of all serious accidents at work. Employers should therefore ensure all floors are safe and should monitor the slip resistance of floors and monitor changes to slip risk.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 Regulation 12(2)(a)

The law requires that floors in a workplace must not be slippery, holed, sloped, or uneven, so as to expose any person to a risk to their safety.

Safety Procedures

Your safety procedures should include regular monitoring of floors and you should test all new floors and changes to floors. Slip risk and monitoring floor slip resistance should be a part of your risk assessment procedures.

Health and Safety Rules and Guidelines

Wherever you live in the world, there will be probably be rules, regulations or guidelines relating to keeping your staff and customers safe. Floor safey is a vital part of your safety regime and all floors should be measured and those with slip risk should be carefully monitored.

Regulation 13(3)(a)

Suitable and effective measures shall be taken to prevent any person falling a distance likely to cause personal injury.

Regulation 13(3)(b)

Suitable and effective measures shall be taken to prevent any person being struck by a falling object likely to cause personal injury.

Regulation 16(1)

All windows and skylights in a workplace shall be of a design, or be so constructed, that they may be cleaned safely.
Regulations 17(1) and 17(4)
Every workplace shall be organised in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles can
circulate in a safe manner. All traffic routes shall be suitably indicated where necessary
for reasons of health or safety.
Guidance on how to comply with legislation is contained in Approved Code of Practice
Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and the Construction (Design
and Management) Regulations 1994, Regulations 9 and 13.
Architects and Designers have a statutory duty to make provision for health and safe
The HSE recognise SlipAlert as an accurate portable slip assessment tool. It has a very high correlation with the Pendulum, the de facto industry standard.

HSE and SlipAlert Pendulum Correlation

The HSE now accept that SlipAlert is a very good and easy way to test floors and it has a high correlation with the Pendulum in both wet and dry conditions. The graph below shows high correlation with Pendulum...

HSE say about SlipAlert...

"In terms of operation, the SlipAlert is very simple and user friendly" - HSE

HSE using SlipAlert

The HSE now use SlipAlert in all 8 of their regions to test floors for slipperiness. SlipAlert results correlate very well with the Pendulum in wet and dry conditions and it is easy to use.