Identifying Slip Fall Risks
Are your premises a slip fall disaster waiting to happen? How can you tell for sure? Friction Systems Australia prides itself not just on its highly advanced non slip floor coating technology, but also its balanced and precise risk assessment. In this article, we discuss three signs that your premises need expedient non slip floor treatment – three “ingredients” of slip fall risk, if you will – and tell you how you can remedy the problem and protect yourself from costly accident litigation.
1. Moisture
As you probably already know, wet surfaces have far lower slip resistance than dry ones. That’s because liquids reduce the friction between your feet and the ground, and friction is what helps you stay on your feet. If you’ve ever seen someone lose their footing and go sprawling on a slick, snowy pavement in the winter, you’ll know how dangerous wet floors can be.
Friction Systems Australia has a number of anti slip floor treatment options designed to prevent hydroplaning, or slipping on watery surfaces. Our permanent solution, for example, modifies the surface of your floor at a microscopic level to enable speedier moisture dissipation. At the same time, this anti slip tile coating maximizes the dry contact area between your feet and the floor to help negate the increase in slip fall risk. It’s ideal for bathrooms, kitchens, swimming pool pathways and any other flooring surfaces that get wet on a regular basis. Our new TCS product also offers long wearing anti slip protection and maintains the shine on highly polished surfaces like granite, marble and man made stone.
2. Uneven Surfaces
Any type of uneven surface is more likely to cause a slip fall accident. Worse still, falling from an elevated surface is likely to cause serious injury, which translates to higher negligence damages. Stairs, door steps and the like are all high-risk slip fall locations.
Our safety stair nosing services rank among the very best non slip floor treatment solutions in Australia. We offer both carborundum nosing, with an industry-compliant R13 rating and an attractive matte finish, and ProStep extrusion nosing which is renowned for its versatility. Our nosing materials are built to last. We know you don’t have the time, energy or money to get nosing replaced every year, so we make sure our stairs caps boast a durable, moisture-resistant finish that will give you maximum bang for your buck.
3. Outdoor Surfaces
When we think of anti slip floor treatment, we normally think of indoor flooring and overlook the fact that plenty of slip fall accidents occur outdoors as well. Garden paths and driveways are exposed to the elements, so they’re more likely to be wet and slippery. They’re also typically uneven since they’re exposed to greater erosive agents.
Outdoor non slip solutions are our forte. We’ve got Durabak marine anti slip treatment for boat decking – a location with sky-high slip fall risk due to its inherent instability and the high likelihood of hydroplaning – as well as high-pressure cleaning services to help clear away lichen and moss, both of which can destroy the integrity of outdoor flooring and reduce its slip resistance.
There you have it. If a flooring surface is uneven, located outdoors or constantly wet, it poses a high slip fall risk. Don’t become a victim of slip fall litigation – take steps to mitigate this risk right away.