Evaluating Skid Resistance of Indoor Pavements Using the Tortus Tribometer and British Pendulum Tester: A Case Study

Slippery floors are a leading cause of indoor injuries, emphasizing the importance of effective flooring safety assessments. In high-traffic buildings such as hospitals, airports, and schools, ensuring slip resistant surfaces is essen-tial to prevent injuries and reduce costs associated with compensation claims and maintenance. According to Italian legislation, the Tortus Digital Tribometer (TDT) is the standard device used to measure the Coefficient of Friction (CoF) on indoor pavements, ensuring compliance with safety standards established by the British Ceramic Research Association (BCRA). This instrument plays a crit-ical role in evaluating the slip resistance of flooring materials, both in existing structures and during the design phase, to enhance overall safety and reduce the risk of slip-related accidents. In this research, six types of pavements with dif-ferent materials were analyzed under both wet and dry conditions using both the TDT and British Pendulum Tester (BPT) devices. The data were first analyzed to verify whether the pavements met the Italian regulations and also to explore any potential correlation between the two methods. The study found that the re-sults of the TDT method can be affected by the dimensions of the tile grout and the surface level. Additionally, under wet conditions, deformations in the leath-er friction pad were observed, leading to questionable measurements. In con-trast BPT provided more reliable measurements in both wet and dry conditions.