What values must my floor achieve to ‘pass’ the slip test?
It is important to note that Pendulum testing should not be considered to provide a pass/fail value. The legal requirement is that the surface is safe, posing an acceptably low risk of slip in the conditions of end use.
PTV’s of 36 or higher (generated using BS 7976-2) are required in order to classify the surface as a ‘low risk of slip’, but crucially it is the conditions under which these values are achieved which can determine whether a surface is fit for purpose, safe, slip resistant, compliant and ‘passes’ the test.
A shopping centre for instance, will typically provide a safe level of grip in the dry and a poor level of grip in the wet. Provided the floor can be maintained in a clean and dry condition responsible parties have fulfilled their statutory requirement of a safe level of grip. Conversely, a manufacturing environment providing a PTV of >36 in water wet conditions may still pose an undue risk of slipping if greasy/oily contamination cannot be avoided in end use.
Many factors can affect the risk of a slip, which is why we conduct a Slips Potential Model risk assessment alongside Pendulum testing, to determine whether results produced are satisfactory.
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