Should I Do My Own Anti Slip Floor Treatment?

By Author: Marten Pitts
Total Articles: 12
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Most home handymen are capable of treating the slippery bathroom floor with non-slip or anti slip product purchased from the local hardware store. Included in range of retail products are some good performers and some very average treatments. The decision of which to use is often a recommendation of the store assistant or driven by cost considerations and that’s where the wheels can fall off.

If you have decided to apply a surface treatment, from day one the risk of injury increases. Surface wear, detergent erosion, UV breakdown and contamination buildup will continually reduce the product effectiveness. The other issue with the DIY treatment is poor priming of the floor prior to treatment which often leads to a dramatically reduced product life. The most common problem however is lack of maintenance almost always leading to a worn “pedestrian track”, here is where the slip/fall risk is actually higher because the surrounding area feels safe and care is not always considered when transitioning across to these “tracks”.

We recommend that any surface treatment be monitored with a surface test to indicate ...
... continued performance and peace of mind. It is critical to test the surface at least annually and more often in heavy pedestrian areas or commercial environments.

Most anti slip or Non Slip Floor Treatment will feel ok when first applied to the surface; however the only way to establish if the floor is “safe” is to test the Co-efficient of Friction (COF). This test confirms if the floor meets Australian Standards and is not only safe for you but visitors as well.

Friction Systems Australia will test your existing treated or untreated floor and quickly determine if it meets recommend standards.

With an ageing population new aged care facilities in Australia are required to meet AS4568 2013 Slip Resistance standards. Up until 2010 these surfaces only had to demonstrate compliance to a “duty of care” It is now incumbent for Aged Care Facilities in Australia to conduct formalized NATA testing at their site to identify any areas of risk and then to ensure they undertake proactive actions to minimize these risks.

If you would like further information on our non slip floor solutions, or a quotation to reduce your risk, please follow this link http://www.frictionsystems.com.au/ or call us direct on (03)9808 8070

After our professional Anti Slip Tile Treatment particularly in commercial environments, we can provide a maintenance schedule to help ensure the Anti Slip Floor Treatment continues to meet these standards and minimizes the risk of slip injury,