Everyone has read it in an instruction manual for safety shoes, but many do not know what is behind these standards. However, users (wearers of safety shoes) should know something about it. Since the protection professionals often receive inquiries about the SRA, SRB and SRC standards, we report in detail on this topic here.
Preventing accidents at work
The reason can be found in publications of employers' liability insurance associations. The so-called SRS accidents (accidents caused by tripping, slipping and falling) account for 35% of all accidents at work! On average, about 1000 people suffer a fall at work every day, many of those affected are so badly injured that they are unable to work for more than 3 days. Around 5000 people a year are injured so seriously that they receive an accident pension due to permanent impairment.
Reducing the causes of accidents
Although the obvious causes of accidents can be manifold ("stochastic"), such as disorder, poor lighting, inattention, etc., the direct cause of the accident is often closely related to the sliding itself. It is therefore worthwhile to know the causes of slipping and to take countermeasures if there is a risk of slipping. This means as much as wearing safety footwear, which increases slip resistance in the respective work situation. There are shoe manufacturers who talk about "slip resistance". However, the term slip resistance suggests that slipping is completely prevented. However, since this is not the case, the term "slip resistance" is appropriate.
Accident avoidance due to slip resistance
With the aim of reducing the risk of slipping and its enormous importance, the legislator has defined the requirements in the EN 13287 standard. The standard from 2013 (created on the basis of the predecessor standard) was updated in 2020. It was published with minor amendments and additions as EN 13287:2020-2 and is now valid. The standard must relate to two aspects, the surface and the shoe itself. The possibilities for variation are almost unlimited, with the goal always remaining to avoid accidents.
It is obvious that with this stochastic variety of the possibilities of substrates, a practical method had to be developed for the execution of the sliding test of the standard. The two elements that can contribute to the risk of falling, the surface (which, as I said, can be incredibly variable) and the footwear (which can be chosen consciously) have led to working with standardized, as practical specifications as possible.
Slip resistance according to EN 13287
This is a sliding test, which can only indicate a risk of slipping by means of a measured value. Gliding on a surface is not a danger in itself, but only the fall that follows an uncontrollable glide.
The test method of slip resistance is a laboratory procedure with a floor-to-shoe testing equipment. The two standardised test methods can be described as follows in relation to the three basic requirements:
Testing of slip resistance on ceramic tiles (Eurotile 2) with a sodium lauryl sulphate solution. The sliding coefficient of the test is marked with the symbol SRA.
Testing of slip resistance on a steel floor substrate with glycerine. The identification symbol is SRB
Testing both on ceramic tile with sodium lauryl sulphate and on steel floor with glycerin.
Identification symbol SRC
With the large number of possible combinations between the design of the sole of the safety shoe and the surface, no single test can meet all the requirements that occur, or be 100% identical to the circumstances of the respective real situation. However, the user can see from the manufacturer's information which minimum requirements of the standard are met or exceeded. According to the standard, the forward sliding of the heel (minimum 0.28 on ceramic and 0.13 on steel) and the flat forward sliding (minimum 0.32 on ceramic and 0.18 on steel) are measured, expressed by the measured value of the coefficient of friction.
Certification according to SRA, SRB or SRC
If the individual minimum measured values of the friction coefficients are reached in a safety shoe, the shoe is SRA-certified (ceramic tile) or SRB certified (steel floor). If a shoe meets or exceeds the minimum requirements in both test procedures, it is SRC-certified. SRB certification alone also occurs, but is rather rare.
The more comprehensively a work shoe has been certified, the more comprehensively it can be used. That is why shoe manufacturers are striving for SRC certification. In practice, SRA certification is particularly important in the field of kitchens, food processing plants and cleaning areas. The domain of SRB-certified shoes is more in the industrial or artisanal sector. By using SRC-certified safety shoes, the user is on the safe side. Shoe manufacturers (e.g. Shoes for crews) spend a lot of development work on the development of new anti-slip soles, both for the design of the sole and for the material composition of the sole material.
