Non-Slip Floor Surfaces - Keeping Australians on their Feet

Non-Slip Floor Surfaces - Keeping Australians on their Feet

By |December 20, 2007

Slippery floors are everywhere – a floor with an inadequate non-slip rating is an accident waiting to happen! Slippery floor surfaces present a high risk of dangerous, even fatal, slip and fall injuries.

Slips, trips and falls have become one of the main health and safety risks in our community and the most expensive occupational health and safety cost for business and industry.

Statistics show that there are approximately 28,000 slip and fall injures each year with a cost of approximately $3 billion each year.

Every property owner, manager, builder and architect has a legal obligation to ensure that floor surfaces are non-slip. While every floor surface has the potential for accidents, floor surfaces that meet minimum standards of slip resistance provide maximum protection from accidental injury.

In fact, 85% of all slip and fall injuries in Australia are preventable!

Ensuring that floors have the required non-slip qualities is essential to avoid dangerous slip and fall accidents and the costly litigation that results from these injuries.

To ensure that floor surfaces are non-slip and meet legal requirements, property owners should:

  • Have the slip resistance of all floor surfaces measured in all areas of their home, business or public areas – both indoor and out.
  • If floor surfaces do not meet required standards of slip resistance for pedestrian surfaces, research the non-slip treatment options available for these floor surfaces. If you are unsure about the required slip resistance ratings required, ask your floor safety operator.
  • Choose a non-slip floor treatment that best suits your needs and budget.
  • Have the slip resistance of floor surfaces measured after treatment recorded on a warranty to provide documentation of increased slip resistance.
  • To ensure that the anti – slip properties of floor surfaces remain over time, ensure that floor surfaces are cleaned regularly with clean, HOT water and a small amount of high-quality detergent to ensure that slip resistance is maintained.