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How to Assess the Slip Resistance of Fibreglass Grating

Did you know that every year around 10,000 people suffer a major slip or trip injury whilst at work? Sadly around 90% of these falls result in broken bones, and in fact, slips and trips account for a third of all major injuries and cost employers more than 500 million pounds a year.

What to consider when choosing a flooring material

When thinking about what flooring to use, you need to first consider where the floor will be fitted, the amount of anticipated pedestrian usage and what type of activity or working practices will be undertaken on it.  Think about likely spillages and contaminants that might come into contact with the flooring, and how quickly and easily these can be cleaned up.

Once you have narrowed your choices based on these criteria, it’s important to make sure your chosen flooring has undergone stringent slip testing in accordance with British Standards.

The most widely accepted method of measuring slip (and which Dura Composites has invested heavily in testing across its Dura Platform, Dura Grating, Dura Slab and Dura Tread Glass Reinforced Polymer or fibreglass flooring ranges) is the Pendulum Test.

Understanding the Pendulum Test

In scientific terms, the Pendulum test measures dynamic coefficient of friction (CoF). In layman’s terms, this means that it assesses the friction offered by a floor surface when a foot comes into contact with it and a resulting PTV (pendulum test value) is given.

In simple terms, the higher the PTV the better. The PTV equates to an approximate accident risk and is based on the basic condition of a reasonably active pedestrian aged between 18-60 years, walking in a straight line at moderate pace, not turning, carrying, pushing or pulling a load. A low slip potential value is 36 or more, a moderate value is 25 to 36 and a high value is 0-24.

Your chosen flooring manufacturer should be able to easily provide you with PTV values for each product, in wet and dry conditions and in all directions, so don’t buy until you’ve studied these carefully to make sure your flooring will perform as you need it to.

Under recent testing for example, Dura Composites fibreglass d2 Dura Grating achieved an incredible score of 62 in the wet, (against the low slip threshold of just 36), making it ideal for almost all flooring conditions.

Affordability of GRP flooring

Technically advanced flooring solutions such as GRP which have safety surfaces in-built needn’t break the budget.

If you’ve considered your load-bearing requirements and know your spans then you can ensure that you choose the most cost-effective thickness and panel size for your specific needs.

Our Interactive Product Selector is a handy tool to use if you’re really not sure which product is suitable as it takes the guesswork out of defining your requirements.

Consider too how durable the flooring needs to be in conjunction with the lifecycle of the building or project and make sure that you are aware of whether and how it can be recycled or repurposed.

Remember you can always order a variety of free GRP grating samples from Dura Composites so you can see and feel the surface of the material for yourself before you buy.

Simply complete our online form with some basic details and we’ll pop your samples in the post to you ASAP.