Slip Resistance – Adjusting to a New Paradigm

Abstract

AS/NZS 4586–1999, Slip resistance classification of new pedestrian surface materials, rejects the concept that a universal minimum slip resistance threshold value is the arbiter of safety. Slip potential is a function of footwear, gait, test method, environment, etc. Test results may indicate the potential ‘contribution of the floor surface to the risk of slipping when wet’, but designers also have to consider the pedestrian contribution, the nature of the anticipated activity and the probable range of contamination conditions. What trust can be placed in individual test results, and what are the implications for forensic investigations? These questions are indirectly answered whilst also addressing more challenging fundamental issues.