Home / The tests

Method & accreditation

Two readings, one clear answer

Grip cannot be judged by eye, so we take it two complementary ways — and we are accredited for both.

The pendulum (PTV)

The main test is the pendulum. A weighted arm sweeps a rubber slider across the floor, standing in for a heel that has lost its grip, and the reading it leaves is the Pendulum Test Value. We take it wet as well as dry, in three directions; a value of 36 or more sits comfortably in the low-risk band, which the HSE treats as the line to clear.

Surface roughness (Rz)

We also look at texture. Where floors meet water, snow-melt or grease, the fine roughness — measured in microns — gives moisture somewhere to go so the surface still holds. It runs alongside the pendulum rather than replacing it, and over time it reveals a floor wearing smooth before it becomes a hazard.

The standards

• BS 7976-2 — the operation of the pendulum tester.
• BS EN 16165 — the current standard for measuring surface slip resistance (it superseded BS EN 13036-4).
• UKSRG guidelines — how the results are interpreted (we are a member).

Whoever is responsible for a building holds the duty — employers, facilities managers, and in care settings the Care Inspectorate, which expects slip risk to be assessed and managed across Scotland.

Laboratory product testing

Beyond site work, our environmentally controlled laboratory (to ISO 291) examines more than 300 flooring products a year — tile, stone, resin, vinyl and decking — and can issue slip-resistance certification or support product development.

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