The Reliability of a Friction Measurement Device on the Assessment of Slip & Fall Risk

The significance of slipping and falling has been reported in the literature. It has also been shown that most slipping and falling incidences occur on level surfaces where floor slipperiness is a critical issue. Friction measurement is one of the major approaches in determining floor slipperiness. The Brungraber Mark II slipmeter is one of the friction measurement devices commonly used by safety engineers and consultants in the USA. The Brungraber Mark III is a new and an improvement design of the Mark II. The aimof the study was to compare the performances of the Brungraber Mark II and Mark III slipmeters. Friction measurements with the two slipmeters were conducted in a laboratory using four footwear samples, four floors, and three surface conditions. A Kistler^reg force platform was used to collect the ground reaction force of the footwear pad on the floor tile. The ratio of the horizontal force versus the vertical force measured using the force platform was calculated and was termed force platform-based COF value. Both the COF readings and the force platform-based COF values were analyzed. Based on the comparisons of the COF readings between the two slipmeters and correlations between the COF readings and the force platform-based COF values for the two slipmeters, the Mark III was found to have equivalent consistency, repeatability, and accuracy as compared with those of the Mark II.