SLIP-FALL ACCIDENTS

36 BILLION-DOLLAR per year -or- 100 MILLION-DOLLARS per day

The National Safety Council states that there are over 9 million disabling slip/fall injuries requiring hospitalization every year (that's about 25,000 per day).

The Bureau of Labor statistics shows that 104 million lost workdays per year is due to slip/fall injures. This represent 65% of all employee-hours lost, and is one of the reasons why Worker's Compensation rates are increasing approximately 30% every year.

Slip-fall accidents account for 30% of all reported accidents. It is the second leading cause of accidental death and disability, after car accidents. Statistics show that 66% of injury cases for people 65 years or older were a result of a fall, and over 75% of slip-fall deaths occur to people 65 or older.

It is commonly believed that a wet floor is a slippery floor. For most slip-and-fall victims, they see unsafe floors and poor maintenance as the sole cause of their accident. How often have you heard an injured victim of a slip and fall blame himself for the accident? Rarely. But wet floors are not the only cause of slips and falls. In some cases, a wet floor can actually be less slippery than when dry. Hazardous floors are a direct cause of approximately 50% of most slip and fall claims while the other 50% is broken down into four different categories including footwear, improper hazard identification, poor training, and fraud.

OSHA and ADA Recommendations on COF
(Exerts from Public Law 101-336)

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

OSHA states that all walkway surfaces shall be maintained in a non-slip condition. Steps with non-slip surfaces shall be provided; floors, footwalks, and passageways in the work area around machines or other places where a person is required to stand, or walk, shall be provided with an effective means to minimize slipping. A static coefficient of friction of .50 or above is considered a safe walkway surface with a dry condition. A reading below .50 is considered an unsafe surface.

American with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The ADA states that ground and floor surfaces along accessible routes and in accessible rooms and spaces including floors, walks, stairs and curb ramps, shall be firm, stable and slip resistant.
The ADA sponsored a research project to conduct test with persons with disabilities and concluded that such persons needed a higher coefficient of friction. A static coefficient of friction of .60 is recommended for floor surfaces.

Coefficient of Friction (COF)

COF is the measurement of slipperiness on a surface. When testing the surface, a rubber-soled shoe with a weight is pulled across a surface while measuring the amount of force required to pull it across (Static Coefficient). As may be expected, dry rubber soles on a dry surface have the highest coefficient of friction. For example, on a dry untreated Gloss Ceramic Tile, dry rubber has a COF of approx. .90 - .95. When the tile becomes wet from mopping or spills, the COF drops to .40 - .45. This is below minimum safety standards.