Reducing Slip-and-Fall Accidents in the Workplace: Role of Small-Scale Roughness of Floor Surfaces to Improve Friction

Details

• Personal Author:
  Beschorner KE ; Jacobs T
• Description:
  The primary goal of this R21 study was to use novel measurements of small-scale floor topography to develop and validate a mechanics-based predictive model for shoe-floor friction. This project was motivated by the high rate of slip-and-fall accidents and the opportunity for high friction footwear and flooring to ameliorate the impacts of these injurious events. In this research study, we developed novel methods to characterize the topography of flooring across 7 orders of magnitude and characterized time-dependent shoe materials across 9 orders of magnitude. We developed an implementation of a friction mechanics model to predict coefficient of friction based on these inputs. Shoe-floor coefficient of friction data was collected in oily conditions for 184 shoe-floor combinations to assess the ability of traditional roughness metrics as well as mechanics models to predict shoe-floor friction. We implemented both statistical analyses and mechanics-based analyses to determine the predictive ability of floor topography across different scale ranges. The key accomplishment in this study was the validation of such a computational model that predicts the impact of time-dependent shoe materials and scale-dependent flooring topography. This model has high potential for impact given its high degree of accuracy for predicting oily friction, the extensive validation that was performed in this study demonstrating its ability to predict both impacts of flooring and shoe materials, and its low required level of expertise required to use the model. The implementation of the model was made possible because of advances in characterizing flooring surfaces and shoe materials that were facilitated during this research. The model also revealed the scales of flooring topography and the frequencies of shoe materials that contribute most to oily friction. Thus, findings of the model already have generated knowledge that inform design for footwear and flooring manufacturers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accidents Biomechanical Phenomena Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Biomechanical Modeling Floors Footwear Slips, Trips, And Falls Statistical Analysis STF Walking Surfaces
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-93
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070861
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R21-OH-012126, 2025 Jan; :1-93
• Contact Point Address:
  Kurt E. Beschorner, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering, 4420 Bayard St #306, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
• Email:
  beschorn@pitt.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Performing Organization:
  University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20210930
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20230929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1c4f167920e92d7bb1937a09b704820d24b0a460f6ab9117c2357ff183389fe2a89216922f805c7f0e3130429cc83a72b5a2887affdca52ebc9770455d369eb3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/219290/cdc_219290_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.20 MB ]