If you commission a slip test from a non-accredited provider and that test later needs to support a claim, defend a prosecution, or satisfy a regulator — the numbers alone won't save you.
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service is the sole accreditation body recognised by the UK Government. It is the authority appointed under the Accreditation Regulations 2009 and operates under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department for Business and Trade.
UKAS assesses testing laboratories against BS EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 — the international standard for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Accreditation is not self-certified. It is earned through independent, documented audit and maintained through annual surveillance visits.
Important distinction: ISO 9001 is a quality management standard. ISO 17025 is a technical competence standard. A company can be ISO 9001 certified without any of its test results being accredited. For slip testing, only ISO 17025 matters.
To hold UKAS ISO 17025 accreditation for slip testing, a laboratory must demonstrate, to an external assessor, that:
When a slip-and-trip claim proceeds to a disclosure stage, both sides exchange expert reports. A UKAS accredited report has a materially higher evidential weight than a non-accredited one. An opposing expert cannot cross-examine on calibration, competency or method validation — because UKAS has already independently verified all three. A non-accredited report is open on every one of these fronts.
The Health and Safety Executive expects duty holders to demonstrate due diligence. When a pedestrian slip causes serious injury on a commercial premises, HSE inspectors will ask what testing was done. A UKAS accredited report signed before the incident is a powerful document in a corporate manslaughter or section 3 HSWA 1974 investigation. A non-accredited report carries far less weight.
Public liability insurers increasingly distinguish between accredited and non-accredited testing when assessing claims. A UKAS accredited slip survey commissioned before a loss is the strongest evidence a broker can present to push back on a claim. A post-loss test, regardless of who performs it, is less persuasive.
The consultant test: if a slip testing provider cannot immediately send you their UKAS schedule of accreditation — a two-page PDF showing the specific test methods they are accredited for — they are not accredited. Every UKAS accredited lab has this document and can produce it on request.
UKAS maintains a public register of every accredited laboratory at ukas.com. Search by laboratory number or company name. The entry shows:
If a provider claims UKAS accreditation but their listed methods don't include "Determination of slip resistance by the pendulum friction tester" or equivalent wording, the slip test results they issue are not accredited — regardless of what the rest of the report looks like.
Surface Performance Ltd — trading as Slip Testing UK — holds full UKAS ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation for slip resistance testing under UKAS Testing Laboratory number 7933. Our schedule of accreditation is published on the UKAS website and can be downloaded directly: schedule of accreditation for lab 7933 (PDF).
You can also verify our accreditation on the UKAS public register by searching for laboratory number 7933 at ukas.com. Calibration records and method validation are made available to every client on request.
UKAS ISO 17025 accredited pendulum testing across the UK. Report within 5 working days.