Assessing floor slipperiness in campus dining halls using objective and subjective measures

Abstract

Floor slipperiness is a critical issue in slip and fall incidents which are a major source of occupational injuries. The objectives of this study were to investigate if the protocols used in a field study conducted in Taiwan could be used in similar environments and whether consistent results could be obtained. Protocols used in the field study to investigate floor slipperiness in western-style fast-food restaurants in Taiwan, included both objective and subjective measurements. Using the same methods as in Taiwan, friction was measured on tiles in five major working areas of 4 university campus dining hall kitchens as an objective measurement of slipperiness; the subjective measurement was employees' ratings of floor slipperiness of the same areas. The Pearson's correlation coefficient in the dining halls between the averaged friction coefficients and subjective ratings for all 20 evaluated areas across four dining halls was 0.64, which was higher than the correlation of 0.49 obtained in Taiwan. Cultural differences, the amount of water on the floors in the sink areas, and the use of college campus dining halls over fast-food restaurants might be contributors to the higher correlation coefficients in this study. However, the current study confirmed the results obtained in Taiwan, that average friction coefficient and perception values are in fair agreement, suggesting that both might be reasonably good indicators of slipperiness.