Ben Powers – Slip Guru Ltd

Who are you?

My name is Ben Powers and I am director of a small consultancy, Slip Guru Ltd, which helps businesses to reduce slipping accidents.

What is your experience?

I have been focussed exclusively on slips and slip resistance for over 19 years, after starting my career at SATRA as a floorcoverings technician in 2007. In 2009 I set up Grip Potential Ltd, and provided slip risk assessment services through this company, for a wide range of clients and in a wide range of environments. Late in 2019 I moved to Munro (who manufacture the Munro Pendulum), providing the same slip risk assessment focus and helping them achieve UKAS accreditation for testing and calibration activities. In 2025 I moved back to self-employment to explore improving rather than simply measuring slip resistance, but I remain a technical consultant for Munro.
My experience of slip resistance and slip risk assessment in a wide range of real-world situations is unusual and has provided a good basis for expert witness works. I have given evidence at the High Court and continue to provide expert witness services for slipping cases on a regular basis. This is one of my favourite parts of the job.

What does your company do?

Slip Guru Ltd is first and foremost focused on the assessment and reduction of slip risk. Clients employing my services will benefit from high quality Pendulum testing, married with a detailed slip risk assessment based in HSE/UKSRG guidance, to produce a plan to reduce slip risk where necessary, either by improvement of controls, or cleaning, treatment or coating of slippery floor surfaces. At each step Pendulum testing is used to generate data to drive sensible, practical choices, lasting safety and crucially defensibility in the event of a slipping incident.
Alongside the practical aspects of reducing slip accidents I also provide a range of services to other Pendulum operators, offering training in best-practice Pendulum operation and slip risk assessment, running reproducibility/proficiency testing workshops for UKAS accredited labs, and recently launching the Pendulum Operator Proficiency Scheme for testers otherwise without the means to formally demonstrate competency.

Why are you a UKSRG member?

As someone who has spent his entire career focussed on slips, if there is a trade body for me then the UKSRG is surely it. Since joining the Group in 2012 I have been consistently impressed with how its members, coming from competing businesses and with competing interests, views and ideas, have worked together to produce high quality guidance and promote best working practice in an essentially unregulated industry.
Whilst the Group’s aims are noble I, selfishly, also enjoy meeting with fellow industry professionals, learning from their experiences and challenging or being challenged on established views in an emerging science. I try to be as active as possible on various sub-committees in order to help further the Group’s aims.

What advice and expertise can you offer?

It is very difficult to accurately assess slip risk without conducting a slip test to tell you how slippery the floor is. It is also very difficult to reduce slipping accidents without accurately assessing slip risk. I can help with both, and practical straightforward management of risk to meaningfully reduce slipping incidents and exposure to litigation.

As Slip Guru I can provide:
• Slip testing
• Slip risk assessment
• Deep cleaning
• Anti-slip solutions
• Training
• Proficiency workshops
• Pendulum operator proficiency certification

As Ben, I’m always happy to talk about slips and provide help and advice as and where I can, regardless of commercial benefit.

.

Ben Powers 06/2026