A report owners and insurers can actually use

Facility and building managers carry the duty to provide safe pedestrian surfaces for tenants, staff and visitors. That duty is hard to discharge with a table of raw pendulum numbers. Owners, body corporates and insurers want to see a current P classification for each location, interpreted against the recommendations of HB 198:2014, with a priority and a next step.

We test existing pedestrian surfaces in accordance with AS 4663:2013 using both the wet pendulum and dry floor friction methods. Every report explains what each result means in plain English, ranks findings by risk, and, where a surface falls short, includes a scope of works and quote from Premrest in the client app.

Most commercial building owners who order a slip test receive numbers and nothing else. Our reports are written for the people who have to make decisions. You see at a glance which surfaces meet the guidance, which are marginal and which need attention.

Typical focus areas

Entry foyers and lobby floors, wet and dry zones
External forecourts, ramps and awning drip lines
Stair treads, landings and fire stairs
End-of-trip facilities, showers and changerooms
Loading docks and back-of-house corridors

How we test and report

Where risk concentrates

The transitions that fail first

In a managed building the highest-risk zones are usually the transitions, not the tenancy carpet. Wet weather, polished lobby stone and heavy pedestrian traffic make entry zones and external surfaces the usual trouble spots.

Entry foyers and lobby floors

Polished lobby stone on a rainy day is a classic shortfall. Internal entries that get wet are commonly recommended to achieve P3 under HB 198:2014. Wet pendulum testing to AS 4663:2013 is the method that reflects that condition. We document wet and dry zones so the report matches how the foyer actually behaves when umbrellas come through the door.

Short entry mats and drip lines

Entry mats that end too early leave wet shoes on hard stone just as people accelerate into the lobby. External forecourts, ramps and awning drip lines stay wet by design. External walkways and entrance ways are commonly recommended to achieve P4. Those surfaces belong in the first test round, not as an afterthought.

End-of-trip facilities

Showers and changerooms stay damp between peak commute times. Bathrooms and shared amenities sit in the same wet-area group as other communal wet rooms. We test the tiled and coated surfaces people actually walk on barefoot or in socks, then interpret the P rating against the location type rather than the material.

Hard stairs, fire stairs and ramps

A slip on a level lobby is bad. A slip on a stair or ramp is how the most serious falls happen. Hard stairs in commercial towers, including fire stairs and feature stairs in stone, terrazzo or timber, wear in a concentrated strip: every descending foot strikes the same nosing, so grip is lost exactly where it is most needed.

For new work, the National Construction Code sets minimum classifications for stair treads, nosings, ramps and landings. Once the building is occupied, the ongoing WHS duty applies and the practical benchmark becomes HB 198:2014, whose recommendations for stairs and ramps mirror the construction-time requirements. An installed stair cannot go to a laboratory, so it is tested in place with the wet pendulum to AS 4663:2013.

The failure points we see most often on commercial stairs are worn nosings, painted or coated steel in back-of-house, sealed concrete ramps that were acceptable as broomed concrete, and feature stairs near entries where wet shoes arrive. Failures on stairs and ramps deserve the top of the rectification queue because the consequence of a fall is highest. Our guide to slip resistance for stairs and ramps sets out the NCC classifications and the on-site method in full.

What the NCC pattern looks like

Stair treads and landings: P3 or R10 dry, P4 or R11 wet
Nosings and landing edge strips: P3 dry, P4 wet
Ramps steeper than 1 in 20 but not steeper than 1 in 14: P3 or R10 dry, P4 or R11 wet
Ramps steeper than 1 in 14: P4 or R11 dry, P5 or R12 wet

Always confirm the exact requirements with your certifier against the NCC edition applying to the project. Existing stairs are assessed on site to AS 4663:2013, not in a laboratory.

What you receive

Wet pendulum and dry friction results, with P and D classifications, for every agreed location
Plain-English interpretation against HB 198:2014 guidance
Prioritised recommendations, ranked by risk
Rectification by Premrest for any surface that falls short
Optional retesting after rectification to document the improvement

If a commercial floor fails

A result below the recommended classification is a notice that the surface does not provide the grip expected for that use. The next step is usually a slip treatment or non-slip coating matched to the substrate, then a retest so the new slip rating is on file. Premrest specifies and applies that work, including commonly requested systems such as Swiss Grip, Stellmann coatings and Dr Schutz where those systems are the right specification.

Interim controls while works are arranged can include matting over the worst zones, warning signage and adjusting cleaning so the surface spends less time contaminated. Those measures hold the line; they are not a substitute for fixing the floor. Our guide on what to do when a floor fails a slip test covers triage, options and retesting.

Office towers in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane

Typical commercial jobs are CBD office towers and end-of-trip amenities, managed buildings and the common areas facility managers control. One method, one report format, three cities.

Also see retail, aged care and industrial, or the industries hub.

Slip testing for commercial buildings