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Ceramic and porcelain tilefloors can be notoriously slippery.
The very feature that makes tile easy to cleanits smooth, non-porous naturealso means that it is slippery underfoot.
But you’re free to avoid slips long before you even purchase the tile.
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It’s a slip resistance rating system called COF (or coefficient of friction) published bytile manufacturers.
COF slip resistance ratings help you determine if you are buying the right tile for the right location.
Minor slips can have a domino effect that leads to disastrous results.
But that pooled water can make that seemingly slip-free floor feel like an ice skating rink.
Many of these falls are tangentially related to flooring.
COF ratings are the way to do it.
What Tile Slip Resistance Means
Tile slip resistance is expressed as a coefficient.
A coefficient involves two numbers.
It is the relation between these two numbers that determines slip resistance.
The other number represents the pressure exerted between the two surfaces.
Higher COF slip resistance numbers are better than lower numbers.
Clean, dry items moving against each other tend to have COF ratings ranging from 0.3 to 0.6.
Natural stonecan be polished and honed until it becomes as slippery as glass.
Large commercial and public buildings with highly polished granite ormarble floorslay down mats at the first drop of rain.
The older test measured both static and dynamic skid resistance; the current test measures only dynamic skid resistance.
Static resistance means how much force is required tostarttwo stationary surfaces moving against each other.
Example: a person standing stationary on a sloped floor.
Dynamic resistance refers to how much force is required to keep twoalready-moving surfaces moving.
An example of that is a person walking onto a surface and stepping onto the tile.
Numbers can be deceptive, as some tile manufacturers still publish older ratings.
This does not mean that 0.60 wet tiles are unsafe.
It only means that they are up to spec with the earlier system.
In fact, none of these ratings, current or past, address safety.
They only list the results of scientific testing and let you derive meaning from them.
COF Slip Resistance Ratings for Other Types of Flooring
When buying tile, you are in luck.
With other types of flooring, you may not be able to research slip ratings.
Dallas-based lawyer Russell J. Kendzior is a leading expert in slip-and-fall injuries.
HisNational Floor Safety Instituteis the go-to place for information about flooring-related injuries.
Kendzior states that this omission is intentional.
In one case, this may be warranted.
Unfinished flooring such as solid hardwood is site-finished.
Thus, skid resistance is up to the owner since the finishing process is also up to the owner.
They may have ratings on hand that you cannot find online.
Make Fall Safety a Top Priority.National Safety Council.
Slip and Fall Quick Facts.National Floor Safety Institute.
Slip resistance improvements.HSE Health and Safety Executive
