Walkway Safety Audit

  A Walkway Safety Audit is the process of testing and evaluating the existing

floors in a facility. First, a detailed interview with the facility manager is

conducted and all concerns that the company may want addressed are

noted. Then, the auditor will create or use an existing site plan of the facility.

The auditor will then proceed to assign risk categories to the areas that

contain hard floor surfaces such as concrete, vct, tile, terrazzo, etc. After the

risk category's are assigned each area will then be tested in accordance to

the NFSI/ANSI B-101.0 Auditing Guidelines. A detailed written report, along

with all S.C.O.F readings, will be forwarded to the facility manager where the

information will be used to help identify possible slip, trip and fall hazards.

 

Baseline Safety Audit

  Architects and facility managers will find this audit to be extremely helpful

when used before commissioning a building. The Baseline Audit is designed

to be performed under the same guidelines as the walkway safety audit but

applies to either new facilities or new flooring in an existing facility. The

Baseline Audit will provide a written baseline s.c.o.f. reading of the floors

before they receive traffic on them. This helps the architect by the fact that it

shows a documented report with the baseline s.c.o.f. readings of the floor

before any pedestrian traffic or cleaners and maintainers influence the floor's

slip resistance. The baseline numbers can then be compared to the facility's

current s.c.o.f. readings and work as a benchmark to determine if current

cleaning and maintenance procedures are increasing or decreasing the floors

baseline s.c.o.f. readings. This puts the responsibility on the tenant of the

building to maintain the baseline s.c.o.f. readings of the floor.

Floor Maintenance Audit

  This audit is conducted in the same manner as the walkway safety audit, but

can be modified to test specific area's of interest where cleaning procedures

need to be monitored as to their effectiveness. Many cleaning and

maintenance companies will pay to have their cleaning process or cleaning

chemicals tested in order to show its effectiveness. Many corporations will

audit or test their floors to determine whether or not the floors within their

facilities are being cleaned properly by either their employees or their outside

maintenance company. Today it is common when a slip and fall incident

occurs that both the facility and it's maintenance company is held liable in a

court of law. Having a documented report of your floors s.c.o.f. readings could

make the difference between winning or losing a slip and fall lawsuit.

Risk Analysis Audit

  This audit is conducted for the sole purpose of identifying the slip resistance

of a floor or floors within a facility that may present a risk to employees or

potential customers. This audit would help expose any potential risk of liability

for the bank or commercial realtor that may have the property for sale or be

offering financing for the  building.The audit may prove that the existing floors

within a facility may not be considered appropriate for the application or

business that may be looking to either rent or purchase the building.

Insurance Audit

  Insurance company's who wish to to identify their liability risk when issuing a

policy to potential clients can now have the potential client's floors tested

before issuing the policy. The floors current risk assessment can then be

used to determine the insurance company's liability exposure and the

premium can be adjusted accordingly. This also allows the insurance

company to give the potential client the option of raising the floors s.c.o.f.

readings to an acceptable level or to pay a higher premium due to the higher

risk factor. Why should insurance companies continue to spend billions of

dollars on slip and fall claims when most could be identified and corrected by

requiring regular audits to be performed and reported to them as a proactive

approach to one of its leading causes of claims being filed?

COPYRIGHT 2008, Consolidated Floor Safety Inc.

Walkway Auditing

            ANSI B101.1 STANDARD

  On November 22, 2009 the ANSI B101.1

Standard was published. This standard is for  testing hard surface flooring. Under this new   ANSI standard, walkway slip resistance

can be measured and categorized into one

of three "Traction" ranges: High, Moderate,

or Low Traction. Floors categorized as High

Traction present a low risk of slip and falls,

while Moderate and Low Traction floors

present an elevated risk. By implementing

our High Traction Floor Safety Program and

Auditing procedures, a company can reduce

the risk of slip and fall claims all the while

demonstrating compliance with the new

ANSI standard.