Development of a calibration procedure for floor coverings in wet loaded barefoot areas

Status:

completed 12/2014

Aims:

Every year the statutory accident insurance has high costs arising from slip accidents in swimming pools and public swimming baths. Against this background it is necessary and important to provide safe floor coverings with corresponding anti-slip property in the different danger zones. In this way only the accident volume and the costs for the statutory accident insurance can be reduced. At present the determination of the anti-slip property will be carried out according to DIN 51097 with the testing instrument "Schiefe Ebene". In this laboratory test method the floor covering which has to be tested will be walked-on and compared with critical value coverings. The values of the angles (12°, 18° and 24°) of the critical value coverings are known. These rotation properties were determined in the 1970's and the critical value coverings were produced in limited quantity. They are no longer available. Therefore in the foreseeable future the examination could be carried out only limited and consequently the selection of floor coverings with required anti-slip property would not be possible according to objective criteria. Purpose of the research project will be to change the procedure of the examination of the anti-slip property in wet loaded barefoot areas by using a calibration procedure with calibration boards instead of the procedure with critical value coverings.

Activities/Methods:

The determination of the anti-slip property of wet loaded barefoot areas considers the existing load relation which arise in wet loaded areas and comprehends as far as possible practical the most important parameters for evaluation of the anti-slip property for barefoot walk-on areas. The test procedure has proven successful and therefore it will not be necessary to develop a new one to realize the research project. Based on this procedure respectively based on the present existing standard critical value coverings at first it was intended to find out calibration coverings which would be mostly identical to the characteristics of the actual critical value coverings (areas 12°, 18° and 24°). After implementation of extensive preexaminations relating the choice of calibration coverings and the surfactant which will be added to the process water (for better wettability of the coverings during the examination) examinations on the "Schiefe Ebene" with numerous probands were carried out and statistically evaluated.

Results:

After result evaluation the standard acceptance angles for the new calibration boards were determined. Based on the available "standard-acceptance angle" and the "critical difference" the basis for the establishment of the new calibration procedure and replacement of the procedure according to DIN 51097 is given. The research project was implemented and can be considered as finished.

The still to be revised version of DIN 51097 will be a normative instrument for the statutory accident insurance for verifying the anti-slip properties and the safe use of wet loaded barefoot areas was warranted. Thereby slip accidents will be avoided and the costs for the German Social Accident Insurance can be reduced.

Last Update: