Don’t wait till someone slips up

Treat slip risk like every other serious health & safety issue. Pedestrian slipping accidents are common because slips have been overlooked for too long.

• Slips often ignored (by the public and by professionals)

• Slip risks not always well understood

• The slip risk of a floor can change significantly

Slips are the biggest cause of serious injury

• For every serious slip injury there are estimated to be 40 minor slips

• Each slip can cost your business time/money and reputation

• Wet or contaminated floors cause thousands of serious injuries every year
  

Did you know?...

Wet slip risk is not related to dry slip risk. Over-specifying dry slip risk is unhelpful. You should measure the wet slip risk of every floor (if there is any chance of water or contamination).

Slipping accidents on the flat rarely kill but..

• Slipping accidents cause thousands of broken bones

• For the elderly an injury can later result in complications or death

Slips often lead to more serious injuries...

• Falling from heights or near the top of stairs

• Falling in kitchens near boiling water or hot fat

• Falls in factories or near dangerous equipment

Certificate of Slip Risk

Every floor should have a certificate of slip risk specifying:

• the normal use of the floor, expected footfall per day, and any special circumstances i.e. vehicles

• the slip risk: clean dry, clean wet, before + after cleaning, during normal use, and worst case

• likely contamination (types and causes), the cleaning regime, and required slip testing frequency

Save time and money: most slip accidents and slip injuries can be prevented.

The slip risk of a floor changes - more than you may think...

• The floor surface may be altered by accident or by design

• The s lip 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

• Changes to the floor surface caused by wear (pedestrian traffic, vehhicles, trolleys or even by the celaning method)

Variations on a Floor

• The floor surface (and slip risk) may be changed by coatings, polishes, treatments or wear

• Contaminants may bond to the floor surface (e.g. Algae on an outdoor floor

Variation Over Time

• On some floors the slip risk can change significantly in the course of each day (e.g. a kitchen)

• Wear, coatings, polishing or contamination may change the slip risk progressively

The Effects of Wear on Slip Risk

• Wear caused by pedestrians or vehicles can change the floor surface

• Regular buffing may polish up the surface and change the slip resistance

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.