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Method & accreditation

Two readings, one straight answer

Grip can’t be judged by eye, so we take it two ways that back each other up — and we’re accredited for both.

The pendulum (PTV)

We measure grip with the pendulum first. A weighted arm swings a rubber slider across the floor, standing in for a heel that slips, and the result is recorded as a Pendulum Test Value. We take it wet and dry, in three directions; 36 or more places the floor in the low-risk band, which the HSE treats as the line to clear.

Surface roughness (Rz)

Texture is the second reading. Where floors take water, sea air or grease, the fine roughness — measured in microns — gives moisture a way out so the floor keeps its grip. Tracked over time, it flags a surface wearing smooth before anyone goes down.

What we work to

• BS 7976-2 — how the pendulum is set up and operated.
• BS EN 16165 — the current standard for measuring surface slip resistance (it replaced BS EN 13036-4).
• UKSRG guidance — how the readings are interpreted (we’re a member).

Whoever runs the building holds the duty — employers, facilities teams, and in care settings the Care Inspectorate, which expects slip risk to be assessed and managed across Scotland.

In the lab, too

Off site, our environmentally controlled laboratory (held to ISO 291) puts more than 300 flooring products a year through their paces — tile, stone, resin, vinyl, decking — and can certify slip resistance or help develop a product before it ships.

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