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Outdoor Sports Surfacing Slip Tester Insitu Testing

Throughout the UK many outdoor sports areas are very slippery and this is mainly due to the fact of moss / algae growing on the flooring which gives a waxy top layer that is slippy and this can be very dangerous to the players on the tennis courts, basketball courts, netball pitches and MUGA facilities.

It is always paramount to make sure all sporting facilities achieve maximum performances from their surfacing but also keep a safe floor for the children, visitors and players. It is a duty of every school, leisure centre, college, university or sports club to take reasonable steps to ensure the players, kids and children can enjoy safe playing characteristics and measuring any health and safety issues.

According to the HSE the results show that one in three non-fatal major injuries come from slips, falls and trips in the UK and it only takes a fraction of a second to slip with consequences being broken bones or other critical injuries. With the current climate you have to ask yourself would you like to be the victim of someone slipping on your surfacing area and them taking you to court to be sued.

The recommendation for this is obviously to take all measures available to reduce risk of slippage and slipping. These measures would include the following items :

(1) Making sure the flooring is kept clean by water jetting, pressure cleaning and free from moss, algal squidge, algae and contamination

(2) Making sure you carry out a yearly BS7976 pendulum test to make sure the slip resistance is safe for the players

(3) If the test shows to be outside the parameters set out by HSE, ITF or sports accreditation level to take measure like applying a new anti slip coating paint or maintenance rejuvenation

Many sports governing bodies like the ITF for tennis courts have set out standards that need to be met for full safety to the floors and to keep performance playing characteristics to their maximum. If you would like to check details on the slip resistance like the TRRL measures set out for sports use then please contact us and we will explain more in detail.

If you are still unconcerned about what measures could be taken against you in court then you might want to know it is actually LAW and FACT that you have a duty of diligence to reduce chance of injury so if you have documentation to show you have maintained the surfacing to the multi use games areas or sports pitches with a yearly test result then this will stand you up in good stead with the judges however if a children, player or visitor decides to proceed with court actions and you have taken no measures with testing the surfaces then this could leave you wide open to being sued in court.

The slip tester is under 1k to have carried out and not only does it come with a report it also comes with recommendations and consultancy to how these works are best to be rectified whether it is resurfacing, rejuvenation, just a simple jet wash clean or applying a new colour coating anti slip paint. Please fill in the contact form for further details or phone our head office on 01625 445760.

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