Hospitality slip testing.
Because grease is not water.

Why hospitality is a double-exposure sector

A restaurant, bar or hotel faces slip claims from both directions. Front-of-house customers generate public liability exposure — a diner slipping on a spilled drink, a guest slipping in a hotel lobby. Back-of-house staff generate employer's liability exposure — a chef slipping on grease, a bar-back slipping on spilled beer.

The two claim types require subtly different defensive evidence. The public liability side focuses on cleaning response times and visible warning. The employer's liability side focuses on floor specification, PPE, and documented risk assessment. A single UKAS accredited slip survey, scoped correctly, provides the foundation for both.

The hospitality environments we test

Commercial kitchens

Quarry tile is the traditional kitchen floor — originally specified for its grease tolerance, not its slip resistance. Modern kitchens are often fitted with resin-screed floors with anti-slip aggregate. Both surfaces require testing with grease contamination, not just water, to characterise real-world slip risk. Oil and fat dramatically alter PTV and must be measured, not assumed.

Bar areas and cellars

Bar-backs carry heavy loads on floors continuously contaminated with beer, spirits and water. Cellar floors are often painted concrete on a slope. The combination of slope, moisture and organic contamination produces PTV values that can fall below 20 — well into the high slip risk zone.

Restaurant dining areas

The walkway from kitchen pass to tables sees frequent spills from plates and glasses. Timber and laminate floors that are aesthetically popular often polish to below PTV 36 in the wet after 12–18 months of trading. Entrance lobbies near cloakrooms and umbrella stands accumulate water.

Hotels and function venues

Porcelain and marble lobbies are a frequent claim hotspot. A wet day brings rain into the lobby; a function brings drinks into the function room. Marble, when wet, often tests at PTV 15–25 regardless of how premium the installation looks. Pool surrounds and spa areas require barefoot-specific testing with the Slider 55 (TRL) rubber.

Pub gardens and outdoor terraces

Outdoor porcelain, reclaimed brick, patio slabs and decking all have widely varying slip resistance. Algae and moss build-up over winter can reduce PTV from 40+ to below 15 in a few months. Seasonal re-testing of pub gardens before the summer trading season is an emerging best practice.

Hotel bathrooms and wet rooms

Hotel bathroom floors are an under-appreciated claim source. Tile selections that look luxurious often have low PTV when wet. Barefoot testing with Slider 55 is the relevant protocol and is treated separately from the standard shod-foot Slider 96 test.

The grease problem

A commercial kitchen floor that tests at PTV 50 in a routine wet pendulum test can test at PTV 18 when contaminated with beef dripping. This is not a theoretical concern — it is a measured fact, and it is one of the key reasons kitchen slip testing cannot use a standard wet-only protocol.

A competent hospitality slip survey includes pendulum measurement under the realistic worst-case contamination the floor encounters — which in most kitchens means a rendered oil or fat, not clean water. We carry out this testing to a documented protocol consistent with BS EN 16165 Annex C, UKSRG Guidelines Issue 6 and supplementary HSE guidance on contaminated surfaces.

Hospitality PTV expectations

The three common scenarios

1. Pre-opening or post-refurbishment acceptance

A new venue opens next month. The floor specification cited a PTV target. A UKAS accredited acceptance survey confirms it before customers — and the insurer's policy schedule — go live.

2. Post-incident investigation

A customer slip in the dining area or an employee slip in the kitchen has resulted in injury and a claim letter. Rapid UKAS accredited testing preserves evidence of the floor's as-incident condition and establishes whether the floor complied with its specification.

3. Portfolio risk review

A restaurant group, pub chain, or hotel operator wants baseline PTV data across its estate. Periodic testing — typically on a two- to three-year rolling cycle — produces an evidence trail that is exactly what Public Liability and Employers' Liability insurers reward with reduced premiums on renewal.

Why licensing officers increasingly ask about slip testing

Local authority licensing teams, when reviewing premises licence applications or investigating complaints, are now routinely asking for evidence of slip resistance documentation — particularly for venues near bus stops, taxi ranks or pedestrian crossings where a drunk-adjacent slip could involve a vulnerable person. A UKAS accredited report is the document most licensing teams recognise.