LibGuides: Slip Resistance for ADA Compliant Walkway: Federal Resources and Standards

Federal Standards and Recommendations

Most of these resources do not discuss slip resistance

Final Rule to Update General Industry Walking-Working Surfaces and Fall Protection Standards
OSHA. Offers a link to the full 29 CFR, Part 1910, which is geared primarily towards industrial slips and falls.
Guide to the ADA Accessibility Standards, 2014
US Access Board. This guide explains requirements in the ADA Standards for floor and ground surfaces. Specifications for floor and ground surfaces address surface characteristics, carpeting, openings, and changes in level. They apply to:
-- interior and exterior accessible routes, including
walking surfaces, ramps, elevators, and lifts
--stairways that are part of a means of egress
required clearances, including clear floor space,
wheelchair seating spaces,
---turning space, and door maneuvering clearances
--accessible parking spaces, access aisles, and
accessible passenger loading zones
Accessible Sidewalks and Street Crossings — an informational guide, 2010
Leverson, US DOT. In order to meet the needs of all sidewalk users, designers must have a clear understanding of the wide range of abilities that occur within the population. Sidewalks, like roadways, should be designed to serve all users. This includes children, older people, parents with strollers, pedestrians who have vision impairments, and people using wheelchairs and other assistive devices. Just as a roadway will not be designed for one type of vehicle, the design of sidewalks should not be limited to only a single type of pedestrian user. Because the sidewalk is the basic unit of mobility within our overall system of transportation, every route and facility must be usable.
A History of Walkway Slip-resistance Research at the National Bureau of Standards, 1979
Adler. Pierman. This report gives an historical perspective, and summarizes NBS research in the area of walkway and shoe slip-resistance measurement since 1924 and outlines current activities that will provide a technical basis for slip-resistance measurement. The work of Sigler, Hunter, Boone and Brungraber represents the historic perspective. Current activities in data base development and identification of standard reference surfaces contribute to a rational basis for quantitative slip-resistance criteria for building codes and standards. Proposed future research thrusts include personal factors such as. human biokinetic and perceptual variables, as well as environmental factors such as lighting in the built environment. This research will contribute to the development
of new intervention strategies to reduce deaths and injuries due to slips and falls.

ASTM Standards and Related Materials

This group includes the ASTM standard concerning the validation of walkway tribometers, as well articles on the subject of slip resistance published by ASTM. There are also some discussions of the ASTM standards.

ASTM F2508-16: Standard Practice for Validation, Calibration, and Certification of Walkway Tribometers Using Reference Surfaces, 2016
ASTM standard
Human slip assessment of candidate reference surfaces for walkway tribometer validation: An update to standard ASTM F2508, 2022
Blanchette, Lee-Confer, et al. (ASTM). Previous studies have reported on the concept of using human subjects to rank and differentiate walkway surfaces that vary in slipperiness. Surfaces identified as having different levels of slipperiness, based on the outcomes of human subject walking trials, are then used to validate tribometer slip resistance measurements. This concept was adopted in the development of ASTM F2508-11, Standard Practice for Validation and Calibration of Walkway Tribometers Using Reference Surfaces. Because of a depleting supply of the reference surfaces cited by ASTM F2508, new reference surfaces are needed. In this study, the authors' objective was to assess new candidate reference surfaces to update the ASTM F2508-16, Standard Practice for Validation, Calibration, and Certification of Walkway Tribometers Using Reference Surfaces. One hundred and forty-eight human subjects walked across four ceramic-based tiles (E, F, G, and H) under contaminated conditions. The results revealed that, consistent with the authors' prior studies, human subjects were able to rank and differentiate surfaces according to slipperiness. Moreover, the surfaces evaluated in this study demonstrate characteristics that make them suitable replacements for the ASTM F2508 reference surfaces. Based on these findings, the authors recommend that ASTM F2508 be updated using surfaces E, F, and G and that surface G be considered a candidate to establish a slip resistance threshold for walking.
Variability of Friction Measurements Using Three Common Walkway Tribometers, 2020
Chimich, Elkin, Siegmund (ASTM). Walkway tribometers are used to assess the slip resistance of flooring surfaces. To yield valid measurements, the ASTM F2508-16e1, Standard Practice for Validation, Calibration, and Certification of Walkway Tribometers Using Reference Surfaces, standard practice requires an annual calibration to show a tribometer’s test results fall within the 95th percentile confidence intervals (CI) of its supplier’s validation test results on 4 reference surfaces. Many users, however, report difficulty meeting this requirement. Here we examine the variability within and between multiple calibrations to evaluate the current calibration procedure and assess whether field measurements of a surface can be directly compared to calibration test results
Understanding the Friction Measured by Standardised Test Methodologies Used to Assess Shoe-surface Slip Risk, 2015
Clarke, Hallas, et al. (ASTM). This paper discusses standardised mechanical test methodologies that measure dynamic coefficient of friction in order to assess the risk of a pedestrian slip. Currently, two shoesurface contact test methods are specified in British Standards to assess the risk of pedestrian slips during the heel strike phase. A pendulum test device as specified in BS 7976-2:2002 is used to determine the slip resistance of surfaces. Another standard, BS EN ISO 13287:2007 specifies the test method to assess the slip resistance of conventionally soled safety, protective and occupational footwear. Experiments were conducted on six common household surfaces in water contaminated conditions in compliance with the aforementioned standard procedures. The roughness and stiffness of each surface was also found. The results show no statistically significant linear correlation between the dynamic coefficient of friction found via the two standardised test methods.

Risk Management Using ASTM 2508 Reference, 2022
Strautins, Daniel. Many slip resistance testing standards assess the relative safety of flooring materials by specifying a universal minimum threshold expressed as a Slip Resistance Value (SRV); limiting the use within a risk management context. This study contextualises slip related injuries in a simplified risk management strategy to prioritise slip hazards in conjunction with a broad spectrum of health and safety related hazards in an occupational hygiene setting. Four reference surfaces within ASTM F2508 Standard practice for validation and calibration of walkway tribometers using reference surfaces, were tested by five accredited laboratories to AS/NZS 4586:2004 Slip resistance classification of new pedestrian surface materials conducting slip testing with the pendulum friction tester. The results were evaluated and categorised in terms of likelihood to evaluate within a risk assessment matrix along with qualitative descriptors of slipperiness. HTML full-text
Comments on ASTM F2508–13, 2016
Masory. In 2013 the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) F13 committee on Pedestrian/Walkway Safety and Footwear, adapted a new standard F2508-13 “Standard Practice for Validation, Calibration, and Certification of Walkway Tribometers Using Reference Surfaces”. The purpose of the standard is to provide a procedure for validation and calibration of tribometers so that that their readings of the Coefficient of Friction (COF) in wet conditions will be more reliable and consistent. The purpose of this paper is to point out some of the difficulties in applying this standard: 1) Different validated tribometers produce different values for the Coefficient of Friction (COF) of the same ranked surface. Or, vice versa, for the same value of the COF different tribometers will rank the surface’s slipperiness differently; 2) Reference surfaces are not the same; and 3) The COF of the higher friction surfaces depends on the direction of the test which is not necessarily in the direction that a person slipped during the accident. These issues will present confusion in case of litigation and the test results are subjected to subjective
interpretations