Home / The tests
The method, plainly
Two readings, one clear answer
Grip can’t be judged by eye, so we take it two ways that support each other — and we’re accredited for both.
The pendulum reading
The texture reading
The pendulum (PTV)
A calibrated arm swings a rubber slider across the floor to mimic a heel sliding out, and the drag it meets becomes a Pendulum Test Value. We take it wet and dry, in three directions; 36 or above is treated as low risk, and the HSE regards that as the line to clear.
Surface roughness (Rz)
On floors that meet water or grease, the fine texture does much of the work — it gives liquid somewhere to go so the surface still bites. We measure it in microns and use it alongside the pendulum, not instead of it. Tracked over time, it shows a floor wearing smooth before it becomes a problem.
What we follow
- BS 7976-2 — how the pendulum is set up and operated.
- BS EN 16165 — the current standard for measuring surface slip resistance (it replaced BS EN 13036-4).
- UKSRG guidance — how the readings are interpreted (we’re a member).
Whoever is responsible for the building holds the duty — employers, facilities teams, and in Welsh care settings Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW), which expects slip risk to be assessed and managed.
Independent by design
Surface Performance fits nothing and sells nothing — no tie to a flooring maker, coating company or equipment supplier, and no commission anywhere. We’re UKAS-accredited (UKAS Testing Laboratory No. 7933, ISO/IEC 17025) and recognised by RoSPA, FIFA, World Rugby, the ITF and FIH for related work. The reading stands on its own.
And in the laboratory
Away from site, our environmentally controlled laboratory (held to ISO 291) assesses more than 300 flooring products a year — tile, stone, resin, vinyl, decking — and can certify slip resistance or help develop a product before it goes to market.
Ask us
See where your floors stand
Surface, rough size, where you are on the island — that’s all we need to send a fixed quote.