Industry guide

Industrial Food Processing Slip Testing

Industrial food processing facilities operate in the most demanding slip-risk environments in UK industry — heavy contamination with oil, water, blood, dairy, sugar or fat, persistent wet conditions, fast-paced operative movement, and BRC audit requirements that include slip-resistance specifications. Floor specifications typically reference R12 or R13 ratings under BS EN 16165 Annex B.

Sector-specific contamination

Sector	Dominant contaminant	Typical R-rating
Meat and poultry processing	Blood, fat, water	R12 / R13
Fish and seafood processing	Fish oils, brine, water	R12 / R13
Dairy production	Milk, butter fat, water	R11 / R12
Bakery production	Flour dust, oil, water	R11 / R12
Brewery and beverage	Sugar solution, water, hop residue	R11 / R12
Confectionery	Sugar residue, oil	R11
Ready-meal production	Mixed oils, water, multi-product	R12

BRC and audit-driven testing

The British Retail Consortium's Global Standard for Food Safety includes premises requirements that capture slip-risk where it interacts with food safety. Floor surfaces that fail their slip specification often also fail their cleanability specification — the two sets of requirements interact. BRC audit preparation routinely includes pendulum and ramp-data review.

In-service degradation patterns

Industrial food-processing floors degrade in characteristic patterns:

Resin-bound aggregate floors lose their grit through sustained tyre-pallet-truck wear
Self-smoothing epoxy floors crack and chip at the equipment-anchor points
Tile-and-grout floors degrade at the grout lines first; PTV drops in those linear zones
Stainless or aluminium tread plate ages predictably with traffic and chemical exposure

Periodic testing tracks the rate of degradation and the timing of remedial intervention.

Wet processing zones — high-frequency testing

Processing rooms with continuous water spray (poultry, fish) and frequent aggressive caustic clean-down typically need pendulum testing at higher frequency than once-yearly — quarterly is common for high-risk lines. The cleaning regime itself is part of the slip-risk system.

New-build food-plant handover

Food-plant new-build projects close out floor handover with a combination of FM-rating verification (flatness), R-rating verification (procurement specification), and PTV testing in the as-installed condition. Together these cover the contractual, manufacturer and HSE-aligned testing requirements. Pre-handover testing.