Why should you have your floors Pendulum Tested?
Are you an Employer, Owner or Manager? 
BY LAW you are mandated to ensure floors Are Safe From Slips AT ALL TIMES and failure to prevent floor slips, slip injuries and fall accidents is a Criminal Offence
Are you sure your floors are safe?
Could they achieve a value of 36 on the HSE Approved Pendulum Test?
(The ONLY test fully recognised in a court of law)
You must be able to demonstrate and REGULARLY PROVE THROUGH PENDULUM TESTING (generally annually) the floors in your premises are safe from slips at ALL times for members of the public, a visitor, a patient, a schoolchild or employee
From schools to factories, shops to offices and hospitals to airports your floors must be safe and the Pendulum Test can prove it.
Your risk assessments should always be able to prove your floors meet the minimum slip resistance value (pendulum Test Value) of 36 to prevent personal injuries, costly accident investigations, injury compensation, loss of profits and personal injury claims against you.
A drop of 10 points to a value of 24 will raise the possibility of slip by 10,000 times!
Has a Customer, Employee or Visitor slipped on a floor like this and injured themselves but you believe your floors are safe?
Then Call FloorSlip – we can probably help effectively fight that personal injury claim and prove without doubt that the floor was safe with the Pendulum Test Provided of course the floor is able to pass the test
Do you know what Pendulum Test Value your floors will achieve?
The image above shows a Terrazzo marble floor typically found in office receptions, shops and shopping centres with a normal Pendulum Test Value of 50 when dry – But only value of 10 to 15 when wet – you might as well walk on an an ice rink if there is a little rainwater or coffee spill on the floor!
The HSE / HSL has calculated a Pendulum Test Value of 36 reduces the probability of slip to 1 in a million – but this must be achieved on dry floors, wet floors and floors contaminated with substances relevant to the floor environment such as blood, cooking oil, talcum powder, grease, engine oil, diesel or urine. A drop of just 2 points to 34 will raise the chances of slip by 10 times.
The purpose of Floor Slip Pendulum Testing is to check the floors in your establishment are safe to prevent accident injury and help you avoid Slip Injury Claims saving you money and allowing you to meet the legal requirement for floors
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What Floor Testing should I have done and when?
Use the 4 STEP ACTION PLAN (See below) to prevent floor slip accidents occurring: –
STEP 1 – Get floors slip resistance tested BEFORE they are laid
FloorSlip can arrange Floor Sample Tests and / or Ramp Testing before a floor is laid. This simple action is highly recommended if you are at the stage of specifying a new floor or a floor surface type in new building and can save you many thousands of pounds for the sake of a few hundred pounds.
Unfortunately, too much onus is placed on the aesthetics of a floor with too little impetus considered as to the grip potential and its ability to prevent floor slip injuries – even though Building Regulations Part M and BS 8300 Annex C are quite specific that floors will be specified to be slip resistant.
If it’s a ‘turnkey’ building, make sure the flooring specifications are available and meet your requirements and you have a copy before you accept the building.
STEP 2 – Get a floor Pendulum Test IMMEDIATELY AFTER they are laid
Get a slip test carried out to check flooring supplied has the same slip resistance potential as floor samples tested. Flooring manufacturers changing manufacturing processes or raw material supplies can inadvertently cause changes in the slip resistance properties of the floor. Pendulum Testing will identify any shortcomings immediately.
STEP 3 – Have Floors in use REGULARLY TESTED for slip prevention
Include in your Risk Management Plan regular monitoring of floor surface roughness. This simple test can detect possible early changes in the floor friction preventing floss of the slip resistant properties that might otherwise go unnoticed . This is not the same as Pendulum Testing and the results are not sufficient to be used in a court of law but it is quick and sensitive to minor changes and therefore quite reliable. It is also cheaper for us to implement on your behalf . FloorSlip Ltd can setup a regular monitoring regime for you – contact us
STEP 4 – Display a Pendulum Test Certificate – Deter false slip claims
We recommend setting up a contract to get FloorSlip to conduct formal annual Pendulum Testing, this will provide you with a formal floor test certificate which you can: –
(a) Present to your insurance companies and possibly help lower liability premiums, particularly if you have had a slip accident claim in the past.
(b) Which can be displayed in reception areas to put off those who would seek to gain money through fraudulent floor slip and fall claims. We will also provide stickers to place around different areas
Why should I use FloorSlip for my floor testing?
FloorSlip only use HSE recommended Floor Testing techniques.
This gives you reassurance: –
Your floor specification meets the minimum floor standards expected by the HSE and you will be in a far stronger legal position should it ever transpire you are sued for a slip and fall accident…
The likelihood of of a floor slip is minimal – provided you meet the minimum slip resistance values recommended and the floor cleaning regime and floor management are also maintai
What types of floor tests are there?
The main floor tests are: –
Pendulum Tests
(Testing the Coefficient of Friction), which can test floors for actual grip potential as opposed to an approximation and suitable in a court of law for personal claim injuries
Ramp Tests
to determine floor slipperiness on an inclined floor in wet, dry and contaminated floor conditions; these are generally performed off site on floor samples before a floor covering is chosen and give a variety of readings for a person wearing safety shoes or in bare feet, so floor manufacturers and those persons specifying floors can also consider, for example, what floor type is required for a swimming pool.
Surface Roughness Tests
determines how coarse a floor surface is and gives an indication of what anti slip properties a floor ‘may’ have. Floor surface roughness can only be approximated to the Coefficient of Friction and different slip risk characteristics will be seen on different floor types for the same Rz Readings (An average of a number of floor surface readings)
Roller Coaster Floor Testing
uses a trolley rolled down an inclined ramp. Depending on how far the trolley travels when it comes into contact with the flooring surface will give an indication of heel slip and is reported to be equated to the action of a pedestrians heel slipping on a floor.
Sled Testers
are self powered trolleys that drag themselves across the floor surface, measuring the Coefficient of Friction as they move.
Tortus Testers
use a weighted rubber slider, which is dragged across a floor surface to give a read out.
Reprinted from Floorslip Service
Sales01
Sales Manager