If you work in the commercial side of the building
industry, you need to be aware of a new Australian Standard.
AS/NZS 4586:1999 has been published and is aimed at
"pedestrian" or "commercial" applications.
The new standard includes 5 methods of testing tiles
and floor surfaces for slip resistance. It then lists
different situations or potential slip hazard floor
areas and gives a recommended test result standard for
the area.
The new standard has been introduced because of the
recognized need for different slip resistance in different
applications. For example, a sloping ramp that is exposed
to oil spills requires different flooring to the area
around a public swimming pool. These both require different
slip resistance to a floor in a retail shoe shop in
a shopping mall. The standard does not cover domestic
dwellings, but we should all be aware of the new requirements.
Most distributors are still studying the new standards
and deciding what they will mean to our industry, whilst
International Ceramics P/L has embarked on the certification
and classification of products designed for public and
commercial application through the CSIRO's Manufacturing
and Infrastructure Technology team, for slip resistance
testing, reporting and classification per current Australian
Standards.
Most slip and fall injuries are preventable, however,
falls cost the community nearly $4 billion annually
and are the leading generator of costs due to accidents
(exceeding the cost of motor vehicle accidents), and
the leading cause of accidental deaths of senior citizens.
The prevalence of litigation where falls have occurred,
and skyrocketing insurance costs are placing increasing
demands on many sectors of the community, e.g. flooring
and cleaning product manufacturers, merchants, architects
cleaning contractors and property managers. OHS (Occupational
Health & Safety) legislation also requires employers
to provide floors that are slip resistant, and employees
must also comply with OHS legislation.
Internationally, building codes are increasingly requiring
products to satisfy performance requirements such as
slip resistance for the intended life of a facility,
as does consumer protection legislation. All products
brought to Australia by International Ceramics P/L have
been produced and tested overseas to International Standards
(ISO) or European Standards (EN & DIN), and whilst
there is no legislation within the Building Code of
Australia (BCA) to make importers certify products to
Australian Standards, variations in the testing process
between Australian and European laboratories generate
different results.
In order to satisfy Specifiers, Architects and Design
Consultants, International Ceramics P/L now tests
all products destined for commercial/architectural markets
to AS/NZS 4586:1999. Through the creation of an
Architectural Sample Library, we are able to provide
these reports to commercial entities before specification.
For more information regarding the International Ceramics
Architectural Library, or to order your copy please
click here.
Standards Australia, in conjunction with CSIRO, has
published HB 197:1999, An Introductory Guide to the
Slip Resistance of Pedestrian Surface Materials. This
Handbook provides guidelines for the selection of slip-resistant
pedestrian surfaces classified in accordance with AS/NZS
4586:1999, Slip Resistance Classification of New Pedestrian
Surface Materials.
