It has long been acknowledged by the flooring industry that safety floors include floor coverings that have hard particles throughout their structure, rather than only on the surface, to improve their slip resistance capabilities. The floor covering’s slip resistance is maintained throughout its service life since new particles within the structure become visible as the product ages in use. This offers assured sustainable slip resistance throughout.
It is essential to investigate the subject of safety flooring, given that slips and falls account for one-third of all severe workplace injuries.
Slips and trips are never out of the blue. There is always a contributing factor, such as spills, footwear, and the type of flooring that affects any accident. Nevertheless, steps can be taken to lessen the chance of slipping, and one among them is to ensure that you select actual safety flooring for parts of a building where ongoing contamination is anticipated. In this article, we shall go over a few tips on how to make sure you select natural, sustainable, safe flooring.
There are various safety flooring options on the market, but it’s crucial to pick one with slip-resistance qualities that are durable for its lifetime. It is advantageous for reducing slips and trips to gain a comprehensive grasp of the flooring test procedures and the implications of the results.
Safety Flooring test procedures:
- Ratings for ramp tests:
Depending on the results from ramp tests during slip resistance performances, an “R Value” is also frequently used. R10 floor coverings, on the other hand, are often believed to be exceptionally slip-resistant, despite the fact that some people think the scale begins at R1 when it begins at R9. Ramp test results are based on testing done immediately after leaving the manufacturer and therefore do not account for potential changes in the floor covering’s ability to resist slipping over time. Consequently, it is best not to separately view the results of the ramp test.
- EN13845:2017
Another crucial aspect to take into account for the long-term slip resistance of flooring in use is EN13845:2017, the European standard for PVC floor coverings with particle-based enhanced slide resistance.
The wet tests, both barefoot and with footwear, based on the Ramp test and the Pendulum test, are the test methods mentioned in this standard for measuring the slip resistance of floor coverings. According to this specification, products can be categorized as ESb (Enhanced Slip for use while barefoot) or ESf (Enhanced Slip for use with footwear).
This standard includes a durability test to substantiate claims of sustainable slip resistance all through the life of the floor covering, even if the performance classifications are also dependent on ex-factory testing.
- The Pendulum Test
The HSE suggests using the Pendulum Test to evaluate the slip resistance of floor surfaces. The test evaluates the friction coefficient of a floor surface to offer a classification of slip potential and may consider slip resistance in both dry as well as contaminated circumstances. Low slip risk is a pendulum test value (PTV) of 36 or higher. Pendulum testing is applied in lab testing to provide values for ex-factory slip resistance, on-site testing to offer test results, and incident slip investigation.
Pendulum Slip Testing for Risk Assessment By MUNRO
Munro makes Slip Resistance Testing Services in public places to ensure that the floors are safe
