ABSTRACT
The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is the most active U.S. standards-making organization in the development of slip resistance related standards. ASTM currently has eight active standards for six different slip meters. These include the build-it-yourself horizontal dynamometer pull meter method, the 1960s era horizontal pull slipmeter (HPS), the laboratory-only James Machine, and the proprietary portable inclinable articulated strut tester (PIAST) and variable incidence tribometer (VIT) devices. Some methods are only approved for specific uses. With two exceptions (polishes and bathtubs), ASTM slipmeter standards presently provide no threshold of safety. They are test methods, or steps to follow to arrive at (presumably) valid results using the specified test device.
