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Compliance briefing
After a slip
What follows an incident — and how to be ready for it.
The first question
After a slip, the question everyone asks — the injured person, their solicitor, your insurer, the HSE — is whether the floor was safe and whether you took reasonable steps to keep it so. A measured, dated Pendulum Test Value answers it directly.
‘We clean regularly’ is a statement; a PTV report is evidence.
Claims and enforcement
A slip can lead to a personal-injury claim and, where there has been a clear failure to manage risk, to HSE involvement or enforcement. Defending either is far easier with independent, accredited evidence that the floor was assessed and within the recognised low-risk range — or, where it wasn’t, that you acted.
Slips and trips are the single most common cause of major injury in UK workplaces. Source: HSE
Insurance
Holding accredited slip-resistance reports as part of your risk assessment is a recognised way to support a reduction in insurance premiums, for employers and for anyone who invites the public onto their premises. Industry estimates suggest regular testing can cut the likelihood of a claim by around half.
Cost of slips and trips to UK employers: estimated at over £500m a year.
Being ready
The time to test is before an incident, not after one — though we can certainly test after a slip to establish where a floor stood. Regular, accredited testing means that whenever the question comes, you already have the answer on file.
Test before you need to. Keep the report.
General information, not legal or insurance advice. For your specific position, consult a suitably qualified professional.