Sir Benfro · West Wales
Slip testing across Pembrokeshire
Independent, UKAS-accredited floor testing — grip measured wet and dry, with a report that proves a floor is safe. Croeso.
The number you can’t see
Cross a flagged hotel floor in Tenby on a wet morning, or a care-home corridor in Haverfordwest, and you are trusting something invisible — the grip between shoe and floor. It changes as floors wear and cleaning routines shift. Slips and trips are the most common cause of major workplace injury in the UK, the HSE says — but grip can be measured precisely, and we are independent and accredited to do it, right across Pembrokeshire.
The pendulum
The instrument that settles it is the pendulum. A weighted arm swings a calibrated rubber slider across the floor to reproduce a slipping heel, and records a Pendulum Test Value — the PTV — wet and dry, in three directions. It is the method the HSE prefers, and it works in the wet, where most slips happen.
| PTV result | Slip risk |
|---|---|
| 0–24 | High |
| 25–35 | Moderate |
| 36 + | Low |
36 or above is the recognised low-risk threshold.
The surface itself
Where floors get contaminated — a kitchen, a dairy, a fish quay — a second measure matters: surface roughness, or Rz, in microns. A floor needs enough microscopic texture to break through grease and water and still grip a shoe. Used alongside the pendulum, it shows how a floor is changing. We are accredited for both.
| Surface roughness (Rz) | Slip risk |
|---|---|
| Below 10 | High |
| 10–20 | Moderate |
| Above 20 | Low |
Whose duty it is
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Workplace Regulations, every employer and occupier must keep floors safe so far as is reasonably practicable, and assess the risk. In care settings here in Wales, Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) expects slip risk to be actively managed. A measured PTV turns ‘we clean regularly’ into evidence an insurer, the HSE or CIW will accept.
Independent, and accredited
This service is delivered by Surface Performance — an entirely independent laboratory with no connection to any flooring manufacturer, treatment company or equipment maker, and no commission from anyone. We test floors; we do not sell them, so nothing nudges the number. The same accredited work trusted on sites from Amazon and Gatwick to British Airways and TUI, and our environmentally controlled laboratory tests over 300 flooring products a year.
By the numbers
Most common cause of major workplace injury — slips and trips.Source: HSE
Estimated annual cost to UK employers.Industry estimate
Estimated cut in claim risk with regular testing.Industry estimate
Across the county
From Haverfordwest and the Cleddau out to St Davids, Fishguard and the north coast, down to Milford Haven, Pembroke and Tenby — the whole SA postcode area of the county, and nationwide beyond. See coverage →
Get a quote
Get your floors tested
Send the surface type, the rough area in square metres and where you are in Pembrokeshire. A fixed, no-obligation quote comes back — usually the same working day.
Independent and ISO/IEC 17025 accredited (UKAS Testing Laboratory No. 7933). We test floors; we don’t sell flooring or treatments.