Regan Scientific Files to Disqualify ANSI Standard Measuring Wet SCOF for Hard Surfaces

New York, NY, July 25, 2016—Regan Scientific Instruments has filed a document seeking to withdraw for cause the ANSI/NFSI B101.1-2009 titled “Test Method for Measuring Wet SCOF of Common Hard-Surface Floor Materials” to the ANSI Board of Standards Review.

According to the application, “The B101.1 Standard, which was developed in 2009 by the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), purports to establish ‘a test method that specifies the procedures and devices used for both laboratory and field testing to measure the wet Static Coefficient of Friction (SCOF) of common hard-surface floor materials.’”

This method was said to have been founded on representations of published scientific case studies by Russel Kendzior, founder and president of NFSI and secretary of the committee and former president of Traction Plus, who claimed published scientific case studies established a direct correlation between wet static coefficient of friction (“SCOF”) measurements for a walkway surface and the probability of slip-and-fall accidents.

However, according to Regan Scientific, that data does not exist, at least in the form that Kendzior claimed. Two studies published in Occupational Health & Safety address the cases to which Kendzior referred, but neither makes claims about the correlation between wet SCOF and the probability of slip-and-fall accidents.

Upon further questioning, Kendzior claimed that, “The case study tests were conducted with the UWT [tribometer] which revealed three traction ranges of risk the results eventually lead [sic] to the creation of the NFSI 101-A wet SCOF standard. The UWT them [sic] morphed into the BOT and the 101-A standard became the ANSI B101.1 standard.” Yet, according to Regan Scientific, “This explanation was deeply troubling because wet SCOF measurements could not have been obtained using the UWT tribometer during the period of time from 1993 to 1997. The National Floor Safety Institute was not even founded until 1997.”

When he was asked to provide more information, Reagan Scientific reports that Kendzior claims that companies at hand deemed the data confidential and admitted that the tests were conducted by the companies in-house and that neither Kendzior nor his team were ever presented with the data.

On this admission, Regan Scientific has based its claim for withdrawal of the standard. Co-petitioners on this filing are the Tile Council of North America and Resilient Floor Covering Institute.