Safety of hospital floor coverings: A mixed method study

Adequate characteristics of floor coverings are essential for safely sustaining the movement of pedestrians on them. Coverings that are slippery when dry and/or wet can form a safety risk and cause people to slip and fall. Hospitals are public places where many people work in or visit. To comply with applicable standards, floor coverings in hospitals should have slip resistance characteristics that ensure the safety of pedestrians. This issue is not well researched keeping in mind that slipping and falling are the most reported work accidents in many countries. This study aims to investigate slipperiness of hospital floors in Turkiye and determine if they form a safety risk to pedestrians based on international standards. Coefficient of friction when dry and wet at multiple departments/wards in three hospitals in Turkiye were measured and statistically analysed using analysis of variance technique. It also aims to investigate potential hospital users' opinion on floor slipperiness using a short questionnaire whose results were analysed using Mann-Whitney U test. Results show that floor coverings in hospitals form a safety risk to pedestrians when wet and that their friction do not comply with standards. Re-spondents to the questionnaire perceived hospital floors to be slippery, especially when wet, and said that those floor coverings should be made less slippery and safer. It is concluded that hospital floor coverings form a risk to pedestrians and that a change in their design is needed to ensure that their friction complies with safety standards and to safeguard their sustainable use.