Slips, trips and falls constitute a large and costly public health problem. Such accidents are the leading cause of deaths from injury for the elderly. Health system costs due to injuries from slips, trips and falls exceed the cost of road injuries. The largest legal settlement so far, of a slip-related incident in Australia, is $2.75 million for a case in which ATTAR were involved as Expert Witness.

Understanding your floor’s slip resistance in accordance with Australian Standards can disclose the risk of your floors to personal injury and possible litigation. In the very least, it demonstrates your contribution to a safe working environment as required by the OH&S Act and can assist to comply with your obligations under the Wrongs Act (Liability of Occupiers).

ATTAR provide comprehensive slip resistance testing and floor safety consulting services. With over 20 years experience in floor consulting, our range of support services includes:

• Australian Standards compliant slip resistance tests covering all 4 aspects of Australian  Standards:

  • Wet Pendulum

  • Dry friction

  • Oil-Wet Ramp rating

  • Wet barefoot ramp rating

• Slip risk audits that nominate areas, test method and frequency that remove doubt, reduce risk of injury and assist compliance with OH&S obligations and liabilities.

• Remedial consultation to provide unbiased recommendations on methods to increase or maintain slip resistance to suit your circumstances.

• Valuable assistance with tile selection. Our accelerated wear test program can save on unexpected cost of replacement caused by the selection of tiles with poor durability leading to unexpected wear and slip injuries.

• Advice on surface treatment products that are often used to prolong the life of flooring surfaces by increasing slip resistance.

• Slip accident investigations. We offer Expert Witness Reports.

• Independence and professionalism.

ATTAR hold NATA accreditation for wet, dry and oil-wet ramp slip resistance testing methods prescribed by Standards Australia.

Independent slip resistance testing covering wet and dry conditions, particularly if undertaken on a regular basis to account for changes in the floor surface, can demonstrate your Duty of Care obligations, reduce risk of injury and mitigate legal costs.

Why ATTAR?

ATTAR are NATA accredited for all slip resistance test methods, ensuring the highest quality of service and reporting standards.

If you are presently obtaining slip resistance tests, consider their applicability to Australian Standards, their independence and relevance of the tests as they relate to conditions under which your floor surfaces are subjected. ATTAR’s slip resistance testing can be performed on site under both wet and dry conditions as determined by the location of your floors and tested in accordance with Australian Standards.

In addition to meeting the requirements for NATA accreditation, we pride ourselves on the quality and readability of our reports.

If you do not undertake regular slip resistance testing, consider the following quotation from solicitors Moray & Agnew;

“In slipping cases, it is our experience that an occupier’s first realisation that a floor does not meet appropriate non-slip characteristics is after an accident occurs and a Writ arises. Plainly, many occupiers of ‘high foot traffic’ areas would benefit from pro-actively or pre-emptively understanding the risk associated with floor surfaces that have worn over time and become slippery as a result rendering them ‘inherently dangerous’.”

Ramp Rating Tests 

ATTAR Slip Resistance Tests Conducted To the following Australian Standards:

AS/NZS 4586 - 2004 Slip Resistance Classification of New Pedestrian Surface Materials using:

• Wet pendulum slip resistance test (Appendix A)

• Dry floor friction slip resistance test (Appendix B)

• Wet barefoot slip resistance test (Appendix C)

• Oil wet ramp slip resistance test (Appendix D)

AS/NZS 4663 - 2004 Slip Resistance Measurements of Existing Pedestrian Surfaces using:

• Wet pendulum slip resistance test

• Dry floor friction slip resistance test