Public realm slip testing.
Where the duty of care begins.

Why local authorities are a distinctive client group

Councils face slip claims from a broader range of claimants than any other client type. The injured party may be a visitor to a library, a leisure centre swimmer, a pedestrian on town-centre paving, a disabled-access user on a civic ramp, a market stall-holder on a wet high street. Each scenario has its own legal test and evidentiary requirements. A UKAS accredited pendulum survey is the single document that supports the council's position across all of them.

Council insurers — particularly the mutual insurers such as MMI/Zurich Municipal and their successor schemes — look specifically for documented PTV evidence when assessing claims. The pattern of settlements across council slip claims shows that authorities with a documented estate-wide pendulum survey defend claims materially more successfully than those without.

The council environments we test

Civic buildings

Town halls, council offices, registrar's offices, courts. Polished stone entrance lobbies are the dominant claim hotspot. Victorian and Edwardian civic stonework — mosaic floors, terrazzo, sandstone — can be beautiful and dangerously slippery in equal measure.

Libraries and cultural venues

Public libraries, museums, galleries and archive buildings. Entrance vestibules and children's library areas warrant specific attention.

Leisure centres and pools

Public swimming pools, gyms, sports halls and dance studios. Wet-barefoot testing of pool surrounds and changing rooms with the Slider 55 (TRL) rubber is the appropriate protocol. Swimming Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG) guidance complements pendulum evidence on pool surround safety.

Public conveniences

Town centre public toilets are a disproportionately claim-heavy micro-environment. Small floor area, constant wet contamination, frequent mopping, and a demographic that includes elderly and mobility-impaired users.

Town centre paving and pedestrianised zones

Granite setts, porphyry, reconstituted stone, Yorkstone — the palette of modern public realm has expanded dramatically since the 1990s. Some of these surfaces test well in the wet; others can drop below PTV 20 in freezing or algae-contaminated conditions. Seasonal re-testing of a defined sample of locations is a growing practice.

Pedestrian crossings and shared-use surfaces

Zebra crossings, tactile paving, and shared pedestrian/cycle zones sit at the intersection of pedestrian and highways liability. Pendulum testing of these zones supports the council's Section 41 Highways Act duty to maintain the highway.

Parks, playgrounds and open spaces

Path networks, bandstands, park pavilions and outdoor seating areas. External paving surfaces subject to leaf fall, algae and frost have predictable seasonal PTV drops.

The Section 41 dimension

Under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, highway authorities have a duty to maintain the highway — which for most councils extends from the adopted carriageway into adopted footways and pedestrian-only streets. Section 58 of the same Act provides a statutory defence where the authority has taken such care as was reasonable to secure that the part of the highway in question was not dangerous. A documented programme of UKAS accredited pendulum testing on a rolling basis, combined with regular inspection records, is one of the stronger Section 58 defence packages a highway authority can maintain.

How council surveys are typically scoped

• Baseline estate survey — a statistically representative sample of locations across the civic estate, leisure estate and public realm, typically 30–80 test locations across multiple buildings and external areas.
• Section 41 highway sampling — defined inspection points on adopted paving, including crossings, ramps and known grievance locations.
• Post-incident investigation — targeted testing of the specific location following a reported slip, typically commissioned within 7 days of the incident.
• Annual re-testing — of a rolling sample of high-risk locations (pool surrounds, leisure centre entrances, town centre focal points).