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Failing the Floor Safety  Pendulum Test – What to do

Floors wear out, it’s to be expected and planned for, especially if you have high footfall and in particular spots – for example a door entrance.

So how do you know if a floor is worn? Have a Pendulum Test and it will prove or disprove it, simply, efficiently and cheaply

Compare the cost of a new floors costing from £3,000 to £300,000 with a Pendulum Testing at very affordable prices - it’s just a fraction of the cost and helps you meet your duty of care

Call FloorSlip now to have your floors tested

What if the floor then fails the Pendulum Testing?

We can advise on a course of events to follow. Typically: -

Have the floor deep cleaned and test again – some* floor slips are caused by poor cleaning or incorrect cleaning solutions and may not be the floor itself

*Note carefully - the difference in Pendulum Test Values (Or “PTV’s”) when a floor is dirty and a floor is clean have often been found by FloorSlip to only be around 10%, for example from 36 PTV to 33 PTV, but this 10% or 3 PTV drop can DECREASE the probability of slip from 1 in 1 million to less than 1 in 100,000 - i.e. a probability of slip of TEN TIMES THE AMOUNT. This is because it has been determined through scientific research that the PTV ratings are not linear but exponential. The graph below is a stylised representation of this.

Identify if the wear is in one spot or all over - isolated areas might be floor coated or patch repaired or have non-slip mats placed there; provided the mats then don’t cause floor trip issues!

Consider if furniture can be moved - to provide a fresh walkway and cover the failing area – for example, moving a counter in shops and stores where the highest footfall is in front of the counter.

Preventing Floor Slip Issues

Floor Slips are caused by multiple issues, cater for these and you are moving towards a decent floor safety record; the prime are: -

Floor Use

The floor is used for a different purpose than what it was originally intended for. Running, Pushing and Turning quickly also contribute to floor slips

Floor Contamination

Spillages of solids and liquids relevant to the business – for example Oil, Cooking Fat, Blood or Shampoo

Floor Type

Hard smooth floor surfaces such as marble contribute excessively to floor slip; particularly when wet. The HSE reports over 90% of slips occur on wet smooth slippery floors. It is an owners, developers and architects responsibility to ensure the floor type chosen is chosen for floor safety – not just for looks

Environment

Wet Floors from rain and snow (and cleaning!). Most floor slips occur on wet floors.

Floor Cleaning and General Housekeeping

Poor, inadequate, incorrect or no floor cleaning all cause floor slips and leaving floors wet after cleaning – assign floor cleaning to quieter times - i.e. hours of nil or low footfall and CLEAN UP SPILLS IMMEDIATELY THEY OCCUR and rope off the area if possible or supervise people in the area until the spill is cleaned.

Floor Entry Matting

Poorly sized and placed mats or no mats used to prevent rain water tracking to inside flooring and inadequate drainage of the drained off water / snow melt from non slip mats.

Poor attitude to Floor Health and Safety

From Owners, Managers and employees; Health and safety is everyone’s issue and legal responsibility (Including employees) and serious breaches Can result in a year in prison or a £20,000 fine (2019)

Perform ‘Regular’ Pendulum Tests / Surface Roughness Testing

We can not stress enough that regular floor testing to prevent floor slip issues far is better than cure in terms of cost and consequences – We can perform Pendulum Tests from very affordable prices

Call FloorSlip today and Preserve your Floor Safety Record

Keywords - Failing the Floor Slip Pendulum Testing Customers, Pendulum Floor Testing Failures, 36 PTV, UKSRG

 

Services supplied across the UK from Lands End to Dover and Southampton to John O-Groats Contact Northern Regional Office -  07774 323267 - Contact Southern Regional Office   07506 559952. Contact by Phone or E:mail FloorSlip for more info

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